The key facts

  • 161,000 households in France are without electricity due to Storm Austin
  • 23 departments in the northwest of the country are under orange alert
  • Ferries between France and England are not departing; rail service is disrupted until at least midday

Scale of outages and the warning zone

Storm Austin, approaching France, had left 161,000 households without electricity by Friday morning, grid operator Enedis reported. According to the company, 128,000 of the disconnected homes are in Brittany, 19,000 in the Pays de la Loire region, and 14,000 in Normandy. Enedis added that 'more than 2,000 employees' are ready to begin work 'as soon as conditions allow.' In advance, before the storm's arrival, 23 departments in northwestern France were placed on orange alert due to strong winds.

Transport and emergency services

Due to strong winds and high waves, ferries connecting France and England remained at their berths in the morning, broadcaster BFMTV reports. According to the broadcaster, rail service in the storm-affected regions is severely disrupted until at least midday. In the Finistère department, a crisis headquarters has been activated at the prefecture: by midnight, departmental services had reportedly carried out 105 operations, mostly clearing roads, and firefighters were dispatched 45 times.

What this means

The storm directly affects residents of northwestern France: more than 160,000 households remain without power, and disruptions to ferries and railways are restricting travel until at least midday. In practical terms, this means that the restoration of electricity and transport depends on improving weather conditions — Enedis has more than 2,000 employees on standby, and a prefecture crisis headquarters is operating in Finistère. No information about casualties or the full extent of the damage has been reported in the published data so far.