More fear than harm. In Ille-et-Vilaine, it is time for relief after the passage of storm Ciaran during the night. Placed on orange alert, the department was not spared by the violent gusts which shook the entire north-western quarter of France with peaks up to 150 km/in Saint-Malo and on the coast and 110 km /in the Rennes area. But when it comes time to take stock, the authorities can breathe easy with no major damage to report. On the job all night with almost 400 interventions, the firefighters still reported two minor injuries in their ranks following the fall of a tree in the Dol-de-Bretagne sector.
Because as in all the other Breton departments, the vegetation took a heavy toll last night in Ille-et-Vilaine with many trees which were uprooted or bent in two by the violent gusts. “The trees were still full of leaves with very strong wind resistance, which explains why so many trees fell to the ground,” explains a firefighter. In Rennes, city officials were mobilized from 8 a.m. to clear the trees that littered the road and prune the branches that threatened to fall. “It’s the construction site this morning, there’s work to clean everything up,” confides one of them encountered along Avenue des Gayeulles.
“The damage could have been much greater”
A few meters away, a resident comes to see the damage to his car. “I’m going to see what the insurance can do because my mirror was torn off and my body damaged by a falling branch,” he confides, a little disoriented. Ten kilometers a little further north, in the town of Mézière, it was the glass protection of the terrace of a West Indian restaurant which did not withstand the storm. “We discovered this this morning,” says the manager. We thought it would hold because it’s fixed to the ground but it didn’t hold up. But hey, it’s nature and there’s nothing we can do when it’s unleashed and it could have been worse. »
Same story with this merchant from Saint-Malo who feared for his store all night. But in the early morning, there were no scratches to report. “We are doing really well because the damage could have been much more significant given the intensity of the winds,” he assures. In the corsair city, it was also the risk of marine submersion that was to be feared. Despite raging seas, the worst was avoided due to the tide which was low when Ciaran broke and the low coefficient. “Even though I’m from Saint-Malo and therefore used to storms, I’m never very reassured when the waves crash on the sea walls,” says Viviane, taking advantage of the lull in the morning to walk her dog.
The storm delights tourists
Intramural, firefighters are also working to secure certain roofs weakened by the storm. “We were treated to a good gust of wind but there was still not as much damage as during the storms of 1987 and 1999,” underlines one of them. And fortunately for that matter! »
In the middle of the All Saints’ Day holidays, storm Ciaran also brought joy to many tourists who came to enjoy the spectacle this Thursday morning despite calls for caution from the authorities. “We take advantage of it because we don’t have the sea at home and it’s really magnificent,” says this couple from Mayenne. Magnificent but also dangerous as they saw on Wednesday evening. “We went out around 11 p.m. to walk our dog and he took off,” they smile. The latest news is that the dog is doing well.