Atlantic storm hits southern parts of Poitou-Charentes

Description:

The anticipated storm struck with devastating effect along the northern coast of Spain, and south western France, killing 15 people and depriving around a million people of electricity. In Poitou-Charentes, it was the most southerly areas which were most affected, although there was disruption across the region.

On the roads, the A10, RN10 and the RN141 were all affected, with disruption in Poitiers as heavy goods vehicles were prevented from continuing their journey south. At 6am yesterday morning there were hundreds of lorries parked up at Futuroscope, prevented from continuing by Gendarmes, on safety grounds. The Red-Cross were in attendance to provide sanitary facilities for the stranded drivers, as well as hot drinks.

 

Winds were weaker towards the north of the region, with 94kmh recorded at Civray, and 77kmh in Poitiers. The Ile d'Oleron and the Seudre experienced 100-120kmh winds, while 90kmh winds at the Ile de Re were sufficient to close the bridge.

 

The worst of the storm hit southern areas, with 360 call-outs for the emergency services recorded in Charente-Maritime, 200 of those coming in the Jonzac area and 107 in Saintes. Charente had 198 call-outs, with fallen trees blocking roads, damaged roofs and flooded basements keeping services busy.

 

Some 9,000 people across 70 communes were left without electricity in the Jonzac, Montguyon and Mortagne areas, although at the height of the storm some 85,000 people experienced power cuts. In Charente the Tude, Né, Tardoire and Bandiat rivers were all on orange alert following heavy rain. Today both Charente and Charente-Maritime were two of the six departments on orange alert for flooding.

 

The President today visited Pian-Medoc in the Gironde along with ministers Michèl Alliot-Marie (Interior), Jean-Lois Borloo (Ecology), Michel Barnier (Agriculture) and Dominique Bussereau (Transport). He praised Meteo-France for providing advanced warning of the storm, allowing people to prepare in advance. He said that the number one priority was to re-establish electricity supplies as quickly as possible. The task took around three weeks to complete in 1999, and he hoped that this time everyone would be re-connected in around a week. Teams from the UK, Portugal and Germany were to join Spanish and French teams in trying to restore power.