Second death and homes evacuated as Storm Nils batters south-west France
Hundreds of thousands of homes left without power. Red flood alerts remain in place
The storm battered departments across the south-west. Photo shows flooding yesterday (February 12) in Tonneins (Lot-et-Garonne)
Mairie de Tonneins
Major damage has been recorded in south-west France following the passage of Storm Nils yesterday (February 12).
Two deaths and several injuries were recorded as the storm passed from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. It is the worst storm to hit the south-west for 17 years, said public service broadcaster FranceInfo.
A second death was announced earlier this morning, following the death of a truck driver from a falling tree branch in Landes on Wednesday night / Thursday morning.
The man from Tarn-et-Garonne died after going out into his garden during the storm, said government spokesperson Maud Bregeon. Further deaths linked to the storm may still be announced.
Elsewhere, 26 injuries have been recorded, including five serious.
Powerful winds of up to 180 km/h during the storm caused severe disruption, including blowing the roof off of a petrol station in Gers and damaging a church roof in Cintegabelle (Haute-Garonne).
Two departments (Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne) remain on a red-tier alert for river flooding, after heavy rainfall saw the Garonne river rise by between 3cm and 5cm per hour along some stretches. As of 08:00 this morning, the river reached 8.27m in height, surpassing historic levels seen during a major flood in 2006.
Several other departments face a heightened tier-three orange warning for river flooding, and avalanche warnings are in place across Alpine areas.
As of 06:00 today, 450,000 homes in the south-west remain without electricity, said grid operator Enedis, 292,000 located in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and 153,000 in Occitanie.
Around 3,000 workers have been deployed to reconnect homes in the area, although the operator says the work is more challenging due to the ‘historic’ conditions caused by the storm.
Trees uprooted, evacuations in place
Dozens of trees were uprooted during the storm, leading to injuries and road closures.
Cities were equally impacted alongside rural areas, with large trees in Bordeaux and rows of smaller trees in Perpignan tore up from the ground during the storm.
Solar panel installations were also destroyed by strong winds.
In Sète (Hérault), strong winds blew a 550-ton crane onto a cargo ship. The crane snapped in two, and it will reportedly take several weeks for debris to be cleaned. No injuries were recorded, however.
Residents of villages along the Garonne including in Tonneins were evacuated on Thursday evening as the river burst its banks.
Several other rivers, including affluents of the Dordogne, have also flooded nearby villages.
The storm has now moved eastwards across Europe, and is no longer impacting France.
