Approximately 50,000 homes were left without power on Sunday morning in Brittany and Normandy, in the west of France, after Storm Darragh hit, according to the electricity grid operator Enedis.
Brittany and several departments in Normandy had been placed under an orange wind warning for the whole of Saturday by Météo-France, which recorded gusts between 100 and 130 km/h on the coast.
The violent winds caused numerous outages on the electricity network, often due to trees falling on power lines. Strong winds continued on Sunday morning in the Normandy region, limiting the ability of Enedis technicians to intervene. The operator emphasised the dangers of downed power lines and reminded the public never to touch them or any objects in contact with them.
Storm Darragh also disrupted train services across the entire west coast of France, especially in Normandy where all lines were halted from Friday night as a precaution for Saturday and Sunday.
In Brittany, numerous cancellations and delays were reported on Saturday, but the situation appeared to improve on Sunday, except for the line between Rennes and Morlaix. Train services on this line were interrupted in both directions due to two fallen trees and damage to electrical installations caused by the storm, according to SNCF.
