At least 12 people have been killed as Storm Ciaran battered Western Europe with record winds of up to 200 kilometres per hour, causing travel mayhem with closed ports, flight cancellations and rail disruption.
In France, some 1.2 million homes lost electricity as the storm lashed the northwest coast on Thursday.
According to French electricity network manager Enedis, almost 700,000 remained without power by Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the storm damage in the north-western region of Brittany this Friday.
The wind gusts recorded in Brittany were "exceptional" and "many absolute records have been broken," national weather service Méteo-France said on X (formerly Twitter).
The prefect for the local department said gusts as high as 207 km/h were recorded at Pointe du Raz on the tip of the northwest coast, while the port city of Brest saw winds hit 156 km/h.
Falling trees had earlier killed a lorry driver in his vehicle in northern France's Aisne region, and French authorities also reported the death of a man who fell from his balcony in the port city of Le Havre.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said 47 people had been injured by the storm.
Tempête #CIARAN toujours en cours.
— Météo-France (@meteofrance) November 2, 2023
Les vents les plus forts ont désormais quitté la Bretagne. La #VigilanceOrange #ventviolent se poursuit sur les départements côtiers de Normandie et Hauts-de-France.
Point👉https://t.co/2SJM7oyBUK
📸 #CIARAN nuit du 1 au 2 novembre à 2h04 UTC pic.twitter.com/x3C6duEb9R
Trail of destruction
Trees felled by gale-force winds caused most of the deaths in Europe. In the Belgian city of Ghent, a five-year-old Ukrainian boy and a 64-year-old woman were killed by falling branches.
A man in the Dutch town of Venray, a woman in central Madrid and a person in Germany also died.
In southern England, hundreds of schools were closed as large waves crashed along the coastline.
On the Channel Island of Jersey, residents had to be evacuated to hotels overnight as gusts of up to 164 km/h damaged homes.
More than 200 flights were cancelled at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.
Air, rail and ferry services saw cancellations and long delays across several countries.
The effects of the storm were felt as far south as Spain and Portugal, with Spanish authorities warning of waves as high as nine metres along the Atlantic coast.
In Spain, more than 80 flights were cancelled at 11 airports.
🔴🗣️Tempête #Ciaran : Clément Beaune confirme que les TER vont repartir en Bretagne, Normandie, Centre-Val de Loire, Pays de la Loire, sauf dans les Hauts-de-France où la situation reste difficile. Les TGV devraient circuler normalement. #Les4V @CBeaune pic.twitter.com/uEZdVj2ieR
— Telematin (@telematin) November 3, 2023
Meanwhile, Méteo France says storms will continue into Friday, notably in the southwest of the country and on the island of Corsica.
Transport Minister Clement Beaune has also confirmed that rail services in western parts of the country would remain disrupted on Friday.
