12 dead as Western Europe hit by record winds of Storm Ciaran
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Firemen work at the site where a young woman died after she was hit by a tree uprooted by the strong wind in Madrid, Spain, on Nov 2.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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BRUSSELS - At least 12 people were killed as Storm Ciaran battered Western Europe
Five people died in Tuscany, Italian authorities announced on Friday, reporting record rainfall and the declaration of a state of emergency.
Tuscany Governor Eugenio Giani said the dead included an 85-year-old man who was found drowned in his house.
“What happened tonight in Tuscany has a name: climate change,” Mr Giani wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Florence Mayor Dario Nardella said the “situation is critical” in the city.
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.
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.
A man in the Dutch town of Venray, a woman in central Madrid and a person in Germany also died.
Some 1.2 million French homes lost electricity overnight as the storm lashed the north-west coast.
Almost 700,000 remained without power on Thursday evening, according to network manager Enedis.
French President Emmanuel Macron was due to visit the storm-battered region of Brittany on Friday, the Elysee presidential palace said.
Wind gusts in the western Brittany region were “exceptional”, and “many absolute records have been broken”, national weather service Meteo-France said on X.
The prefect for the local department said gusts as high as 207kmh were recorded at Pointe du Raz on the tip of the north-west coast, while the port city of Brest saw winds hitting 156kmh.
Transport disrupted
In southern England, hundreds of schools were closed as large waves, powered by winds of 135kmh, crashed along the coastline.
On the Channel Island of Jersey, residents had to be evacuated to hotels overnight as gusts of up to 164kmh damaged homes, according to local media.
More than 200 flights were cancelled at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, a major European hub.
Air, rail and ferry services saw cancellations and long delays across several countries.
Waves crashing against the breakwater of the port during Storm Ciaran at Goury, near Cherbourg, Normandy, France.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The effects of the storm were felt as far south as Spain and Portugal, with Spanish authorities warning of waves as high as 9m along the Atlantic coast.
In Spain, more than 80 flights were cancelled at 11 airports.
‘Many disappointed faces’
A barrier band cordoning off the entrance to the storm-damaged Fouxeira beach in Valdovino, A Coruna province, Galicia region, north-western Spain.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
There was disappointment for the hardy athletes of the annual Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships race.
They hold their race along the Oosterscheldekering storm surge barrier in the western Netherlands only if the wind is above a gale seven on the Beaufort Scale (up to 61kmh).
But they finally met their match with Storm Ciaran, and had to postpone it.
There were “many disappointed faces”, organiser Robrecht Stoekenbroek told local agency ANP, vowing to go ahead when the storm passed.
The French weather service said storms would continue into Friday, notably in the south-west of the country and on the island of Corsica.
Rail services in western parts of the country would remain disrupted on Friday, said Transport Minister Clement Beaune. AFP
