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Southeast France on red alert as Storm Alex wreaks havoc
Southeast France is on red alert today (Friday October 2) as Storm Alex continues to wreak havoc, with rain and high winds of up to 180 kph already causing loss of power for 80,000 homes in Brittany.
The Alpes-Maritimes is on Météo-France red alert (the highest level), while eight other surrounding departments are on orange (the second-highest) for rain, wind, and flooding.
On orange alert for storms are: Côte-d’Or, Saône-et-Loire, Rhône, Ain, Isère, Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Var.
Côtes d’Armor and Finistère in Brittany are also on orange alert for rain and wind as the storm continues to pass through.
🔴 1 dpt en #vigilanceRouge
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) October 2, 2020
🔶 13 dpts en #vigilanceOrange
Restez informés sur https://t.co/rJ24zzmmy4 pic.twitter.com/rSFjb2GVPR
Around 200-250 mm of rain is expected to fall in the Alpes-Maritimes area within the next 24 hours. Schools, collèges, lycées, universities and crèches in the department are closed.
The alerts come after a night of destruction in Morbihan, Brittany, with firefighters attending more than 80 calls overnight for fallen trees, roofs being blown off and electric cables being blown over, as record winds of 186 kph were recorded at Belle-Ile-en-Mer and up to 157 kph on the île de Groix.
[#TempeteAlex]🔴
— Préfet du Morbihan🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@Prefet56) October 1, 2020
+ de 80 interv° des pompiers #Morbihan depuis le début #VigilanceRouge pr des chutes d'arbres/d'objets, des assèchements, des toitures envolées ou des câbles électriques tombés à terre
Ne sortez pas
Ne touchez en aucun cas à des fils électriques tombés au sol pic.twitter.com/lWgCm2M6Uo
More than 80,000 people in Morbihan are now without power after the electricity was cut at around 5:00 this morning. Electricity company Enedis said: “The teams at Enedis Brittany are working on the ground to reconnect the current as quickly as possible.”
Morbihan prefect Patrice Faure commented: “We invite everyone to stay alert and to drive carefully on the roads until [debris] that can affect [traffic] circulation has been cleared.”
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin tweeted a thank you to the emergency services who had been called out overnight.
Merci aux 1000 agents mobilisés cette nuit dans le Morbihan : sapeurs pompiers, gendarmes, policiers, agents de la préfecture...plus de 250 interventions ont été menées pour protéger et venir en aide à nos concitoyens. [#TempeteAlex]@Prefet56
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) October 2, 2020
Trains between Quimper and Rennes are disrupted, with issues expected to last until the end of the morning. Train company SNCF has said that passengers should expect disruptions in the Pays de la Loire and in Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
La #tempêteAlex a touché la Bretagne avec des vents parfois violents (jusqu'à 186 km/h à Belle-île). Parallèlement, les remontées de sud que la dépression associée génère vont donner un épisode méditerranéen particulièrement intense dans les Alpes maritimes #VigilanceRouge. pic.twitter.com/A808G5KnsD
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) October 2, 2020
[#TempeteAlex]⚠️
— Préfet du Morbihan🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@Prefet56) October 2, 2020
Le passage de la tempête a fragilisé des arbres et des structures (toitures...)
⚠️Soyez très prudents même si le vent souffle moins fort
Les pompiers du #Morbihan sont toujours à pied d'oeuvre sur le terrain et interviennent notamment sur des chutes d'arbres pic.twitter.com/6EK2Z2EgOx
[#TempeteAlex]
— Préfet du Morbihan🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@Prefet56) October 2, 2020
G. Quenet SG préfecture #Morbihan est allé à la rencontre des hommes et femmes de l’@uiisc1 actuellement sur la presqu’île de Rhuys pour déblayer les axes routiers
Équipés d’engins lourds, ils sont d’une aide précieuse pr les communes et les services de secours 👍🏻 pic.twitter.com/7Q1hhIwmsd
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