The Ciarán storm wreaks havoc in France and the United Kingdom: Two dead, dozens injured, almost a million houses without electricity and schools closed

The Ciarán storm, which has almost all of Spain on alert, has caused serious damage as it passes through France and the United Kingdom, countries that are still on alert. It has had the greatest impact in the first, where two people have died and 15 are injured, most of them firefighters.. Also more than 900,000 homes have been left without electricity, the majority in Brittany, and transport has suffered serious disruptions.. Similar chaos has been experienced in the United Kingdom: hundreds of schools closed their doors and dozens of trains, flights and bus routes were cancelled.

In France, the victim is a truck driver who died in Aisne, a department located north of Paris, after a tree fell on his vehicle, as confirmed by the French Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, who warned that, although the alert has decreased, “we must limit car travel and remain very vigilant,” especially in the northwest of the country.

Another man has died in Havre in a gust of wind, after suffering a fall while trying to close the balcony of his house.

French President Emmanuel Macron had asked French people in the most affected areas on Wednesday night not to leave their homes.. The Government has carried out an unprecedented deployment to minimize the damage. Firefighters had to carry out more than 3,000 interventions last night and 15 people were injured, most of them firefighters, according to the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.

In a village in Upper Normandy, the roof of a building collapsed, on the coast the waves reached 20 meters high and the winds reached 270 kilometers per hour, a record in France.. Even yesterday there were 900,000 homes without electricity.

Yesterday, circulation was prohibited in the Breton department of Finistère, two airports in Brittany have been closed (Brest and Quimper) and in others planes have had to be diverted to some further away.

Ciarán is also causing significant restrictions on rail traffic: there are five regions in the northwest that have canceled all their regional trains (Brittany, Normandy, Hauts-de-France, Centre-Loire Valley and Pays de la Loire) and 10% have been abolished. of high-speed trains (TGV) in France, on routes such as Paris-Le Mans and Paris-Nantes. The service will continue with alternations on Friday.

Suspension of trains in the United Kingdom

Ciarán has also wreaked havoc in England, with winds of more than 120 kilometers per hour. The amber “risk to life” alert was activated in areas close to coasts and rivers and on the Channel Islands, hundreds of schools closed their doors and dozens of trains, flights and bus routes were cancelled.

The Environment Agency issued 156 flood alerts between Wednesday and Thursday, with several areas of North Wales also severely affected.. Scotland, where at least seven people were killed and 40,000 were evacuated a week ago when Storm Babet passed, was this time the area with the least impact in the British Isles.

On the island of Jersey, hurricane-force winds reached 164 kilometers per hour on Wednesday night, in what is already considered the most devastating storm of the last decade.. The roof of the island's main hospital was severely damaged and at least 60 people were evacuated due to structural damage to their homes.

All flights and ferries to Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney were suspended on Thursday, leaving the Channel Islands isolated.. The authorities asked the population for calm, amid scenes of panic in stores and supermarkets.

The port of Dover was temporarily closed and the queue of lorries in heavy, gusty rain stretched for more than five kilometers. Dozens of roads in southern England were closed due to downed trees or windblown obstacles.

All 250 schools in Devon closed their doors on Thursday with authorities recommending “no travel unless absolutely necessary”. An empty car was literally swallowed by the sea in Sidmouth and more than 10,000 homes were temporarily without power.

Firefighters in Loders, Dorset, intervened to rescue several residents from their properties damaged by a “mini-tornado” that caused great havoc in the town. The port of Portland, where dozens of immigrants pending asylum have returned to the Bibby Stockolm barge enabled by the Ministry of the Interior, was also temporarily isolated from the mainland due to the impact of the storm.

“There will be very dangerous conditions on the coast and large waves in the coming hours,” warned Met Office spokesman Oliver Claydon.. “We have urged people not to go near the water's edge. “There may still be heavy rains and major flooding.”

Friederike Otto, a climatologist at Imperial College London, warned that there are “more and more lines of evidence” to link the destructive power of autumn and winter storms in Europe with climate change: “The oceans are warmer, the rainfall is more abundant and the damage is also greater due to the rise in sea level.