Storm Eunice continues to sweep northwestern Europe on Saturday morning. Fourteen deaths are to be deplored, 75,000 French homes are without electricity.
Storm Eunice continues to sweep northwestern Europe on Saturday morning with strong gusts still expected on the German coasts, leaving in its wake significant material damage and at least 14 deaths.
Formed in Ireland, the storm passed Friday over part of the United Kingdom then northern France, Benelux before continuing its route towards Denmark and Germany, of which a large northern third was placed on red alert until Saturday morning.
“There is a risk of severe storm force gusts (level 3 out of 4). Maximum gust: 100-115 km / h”, warned the German meteorological services, warning of the risks of uprooted trees, falling branches or even damaged roofs. “In particular please stay away from buildings, trees, scaffolding and high voltage lines. If possible, avoid staying outside,” they implored.
Because this storm left a spectacle of desolation in its path and caused significant disruption. Hundreds of flights, trains and ferries were canceled across northwestern Europe as extreme winds from Eunice swept through less than 48 hours after Storm Dudley (at least six dead in Poland and Germany).
Power outage in northern France
Around 75,000 homes remained without electricity on Saturday at 8 a.m. in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais after the passage of storm Eunice which caused significant damage in the region, Enedis announced in a press release. “The strong mobilization of the Enedis teams made it possible to resupply 60% of the households in the North and the Pas-de-Calai” but at 8 a.m., 40,000 households in the Pas-de-Calais and 35,000 in the North were still without electricity, said specified the network manager.
Friday at 4:00 p.m., at the height of the storm, the number of households concerned had reached 170,000 throughout Hauts-de-France, including 160,000 in Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Saturday “the resupplies continue with the 350 Enedis technicians already on site, 50 people in support (…), 100 employees of specialized partner companies mobilized and 100 people in reinforcement” from other regions, indicates the press release from Enedis .
With winds of nearly 140 km/h in Calais and nearly 130 km/h in Lille, storm Eunice caused significant material damage in Hauts-de-France and seriously injured at least six people and around twenty more. slightly, according to the counts of the firefighters and the prefectures.
At least nine dead
At this stage, nine deaths have been recorded because of Eunice. Last death reported in the early morning by the police in Germany: a driver was killed by the fall of a tree on his vehicle in Altenberge, in North Rhine-Westphalia, not far from the city of Munster.
In the Netherlands, four people were killed, according to the Dutch emergency services, by falling trees or in accidents. In The Hague, dozens of houses were evacuated for fear of the collapse of the bell tower of a church.
A 60-year-old man has died in south-east Ireland, police say. In London, a woman in her thirties was killed in the afternoon when a tree fell on the car in which she was a passenger, and a man in his fifties was killed near Liverpool (north-west of England) when debris hit the windscreen of the vehicle he was traveling in.
In Belgium, a 79-year-old Canadian who lived on a boat in the marina of Ypres (west) died after falling into the water while trying to recover objects that had flown away.
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