Winds of up to 170 km/h are expected in the north-west of France from this Wednesday evening.
As Météo-France announced in its 6 a.m. bulletin this Wednesday morning, three departments are placed on red alert for violent winds before the passage of storm Ciaran: Finistère, Côtes-d’Armor and Manche. This vigilance will begin at midnight this Thursday.
In addition, 13 departments are placed on orange wave-submersion vigilance: Gironde, Charente-Maritime, Vendée, Loire-Atlantique, Morbihan, Finistère, Côtes-d’Armor, Ille-et-Vilaine , Manche, Calvados, Seine-Maritime, Somme and Pas-de-Calais.
At the same time, 15 departments are placed on orange alert for violent winds by the meteorological institute: Vendée, Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, Mayenne, Sarthe , Orne, Calvados, Eure, Seine-Maritime, Oise, Somme, Nord and Pas-de-Calais.
3,200 firefighters mobilized
From Wednesday, Ciaran, the first big storm of the fall, “will hit the tip of Brittany before midnight” with gusts of 130 to 150 km/h on the coasts and up to 130 km/h inland, explained his side François Gourand, forecaster at Météo-France.
In the second part of the night, we will observe the second phase of the storm, “the strongest”, mainly over Finistère, Côtes-d’Armor then Cotentin, he said, estimating that the gusts could then reach 170 km/h.
Faced with this potentially devastating storm, the authorities have increased calls for caution.
The Minister of the Interior announced that 3,200 firefighters will be mobilized in the four Breton departments (Côtes-d’Armor, Ille-et-Vilaine, Finistère and Morbihan) as well as Manche and Loire-Atlantique.