Storm Ciaran in France

See also this thread for the UK impact of this storm- https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/storm-ciaran

Merci Jolui. I wasn’t paying attention to what time the storm is expected. I’m going to make a quick run to the bakery and Petit Casino...just to be sure. Tomorrow is a holiday.

It’s been pretty brutal already along the west coast of France. And to clarify, even when we aren't in the alert area, we still get a lot of water dumped on us. Storms don't respect Département boundaries.

Thinking of all of you in the path.

Just a slight clarification...

The regions affected are Brittany, Normandy, Pays de la Loire, and Centre-Val de Loire. Hautes de France is also affected.

Loire isn't affected, that's a département in South West France.

Exact, Val de Loire region , not Loire département..

Thanks for correcting Simon.

Juste a slight correction to the slight correction, Loire department is not in South West either!
In fact almost no one knows where is this département anymore... :))

It is going to be a nasty one - and it brought a friend along too.

Just to say I am getting a bit fed up to the back teeth with all these....

A dozen days ago in Vannes, the dirt path leading into town through its Port de Plaisance was submerged in its eastern middle. That, after a couple previous morns where we'd noticed how that same path by the Captainerie was damp and soaked from overnight activity.

I am done. the naughty Ciaran

The Interior Minister has asked everyone to stay in Wednesday night - and he didn't even restrict that request to the départements that are under the most severe warning for the storm (!).

I find that rather extraordinary but it's true.

https://www.leparisien.fr/meteo/tempete-ciaran-gerald-darmanin-appelle-les-francais-a-ne-pas-sortir-dans-la-nuit-de-mercredi-a-jeudi-31-10-2023-QOQIOR36OZD6XORHL6GXXPRZLE.php?xtor=AD-366

We (Guernsey) are in the direct path of it too, hurrican force winds combine with Spring tides tonight will make it very interesting for those living on the coasts. All Schools shut tomorrow, people being advised to work from home. It is being said to be worce than the hurrican in 1987, boat were thrown over harbour walls, hundreds of trees came down and green houses flattened....

Fun and games

Oh goodness.do take care, Caro ! Hope all will be okay.

Départements in red warning category:

Finistère

Cotes d'Armor

La Manche

Départements under an orange warning : Calvados, l'Eure, l'Ille-et-Vilaine, la Loire-Atlantique, le Maine-et-Loire, la Mayenne, le Morbihan, l'Orne, le Pas-de-Calais, la Sarthe, la Seine-Maritime, la Somme et la Vendée.

Thank you Kim x

The weather sites for Paris are not hysterical about this, but I have a local friend who wants to not do a planned museum visit this week because 'we are supposed to stay in and not go out' -- so wondering how big a deal it is. She had plans for the Orsay with my husband tomorrow and I have luncheon plans. Seems silly to not just go about our business -- but we will see what it looks like tomorrow first thing.

Cancelling a visit to the museum in Paris does sound like an excessive precaution! The official advice to stay put is only for Brittany (esp. Finistère), Normandy (esp. Manche) and coastal Pas de Calais.
This being said... Plants do fall from windowsills when there is a big storm in Paris, so watch your heads, people!

The last storm of this size, in 1999, damaged and uprooted 10,000 trees at Versaille. It’s called a météorologique bombe in French. Could be kinda wet.

Janet - the interior Minister's instruction to stay in was meant for people tonight overnight to stay out of the way of the firemen/electrical workers/ rescue workers who will inevitably be out making roads passable, restoring electricity, helping injured persons - and creating less work for them. You can reassure your friend he didn't mean that people in Paris need to stay in during the day.

(The orange alert for Ile de France for high winds currently is scheduled from midnight tonight through 6am.)

Paris parks, gardens and cemeteries will be closed tomorrow (this is a regular precaution during wind storms).

Guidance from the city of Paris is here (run through Google translate if necessary)

https://www.paris.fr/pages/risque-de-vents-violents-a-paris-25294?ttt

A couple of updates this evening:
In addition to the 3 départements under red alert, there are now 30 départements under orange alert for violent winds - including the Paris area.

The SNCF has pre-emptively decided not to run some portion of the RER A tomorrow morning, along with some Transilien (suburban Paris) trains.

Winds in the Paris area are projected to get up as high as 60 miles an hour.

Of course the northwestern coastal areas are by far under much more danger. Thinking of our Forum pals in Normandy and Brittany, or other points north and west (including Jersey and Guernsey)

safe wishes to all especially those on the coast and in the Channel Islands which are so exposed

I do hope Caro is OK in this. Word in from Jersey is that winds have hopefully peaked at 102 mph, and that 40 people have been evacuated from their homes due to structural damage, with fears now for the roof of the island hospital. Also reports of 3 inch hailstones plus up to 9 metre swells off shore.
Also thinking about the smaller Channel Islands of Herm, Sark and Alderney and the Isles of Scilly.

Finistère was hit quite hard with 90 mph winds in Brest and widespread power failures. Driving is prohibited for now.
In Paris, it all looks fine, only a few closures on outlying train lines. Typing this from the metro.

So far, wind rates in Paris have NOT attained the symbolic 100 km/h. Highest recorded has been 91 km/h.

One report is saying we hit 110mph over night and a tornado....

The weather station at the top of the Eiffel Tower (altitude 330m) recorded winds of 93 km/h and gusts of 141 km/h (88mph) at 2h42 a.m. last night

https://www.meteociel.fr/temps-reel/obs_villes.php?code2=75107005

Oh no!!!
We were orange alert last night. At 2:30 we had a brownout, and a tree has had some leaves blown off.

The warnings are a warning of what could happen, not a promise of what will happen. They are something to bear in mind when you look out of the window to make an informed decision about going out.

Beautiful day in Paris -- first truly sunny day we have had for weeks. Sorry my husband didn't get to go to the exhibit but ah well. I plan to keep my luncheon date and went out for the bread this morning. Not going to carry an umbrella. The wind is gusting in Paris. I see a shutter that is unsecured flapping on the vis a vis building. but while it may be a big deal in Normandy, it is not much in Paris so far. I assume parks are closed. guy across the way is just securing his shutters.

I closed the shutters last night in case anything might be blown and damage windows, but there is no sign of disarray on the small terrace or courtyard.

Wind speeds, some apparently as records:
Pte du Raz 207 kph
Quimper 147 kph
Vannes 124 kph

Il pleut des hallebardes.
I am done. the wet

Arrived in Paris 10/31 in the afternoon and later that night the wind picked up, literally, garbage cans tossed around, luckily they were empty, motorcycles and bikes tipped over. After I checked and settled down, got a phone call stating that the tour to St. Michel was cancelled the next day. Most if not all day Thursday was windy, but sunny at least.

It was no picnic on the Atlantic and Channel coast. I live 20-30 miles from the either coast and had trees down, localized flooding, power outages etc, etc. Another low front is moving through today so it may be more of the same. The “climate” is certainly changing!

it is a shame it wasn't the damp squib nothing unusual Brittany/Normandy November wind previously forecast by some

1.2 million households lost electricity — as of last night, electricity companies were still trying to rue-establish power for 176,000 households. And one electricity company employee was killed in an accident, circumstances haven’t been described. Three other people are known to have been killed by the storm in France.

160,000 new households had their electricity knocked out by Domingos Saturday night, mostly in Nouvelle Aquitaine.

not good... sorry you all are suffering

The tornado in Jersey has now been assessed as the worst in the UK since 1954, with wind speeds of 160 to 190 mph. - a T6 on the Torro Scale.

Cotentin Peninsula, France. High winds, lots of trees and power poles down. Trees and poles in hedgerows were particularly vulnerable, as they lack a considerable mass of soil on one or two sides (due to the sloping sides of the hedgerows) and consequently were pushed down by the wind quite easily.

Enedis (the power company) is calling in contractors and working at high speed to restore power, but some places have been without power for seven days. Walking around town the other night (on day 4, I believe, of the outage) you could hear the buzz of generators at some houses.

If you live on a major transportation route, chances are better your power has been restored. If you live in the countryside in a small hamlet, chances are less than good.

And the damage to the phone lines is even worse; particularly important because many people rely on DSL through their phone lines for internet service. In some areas they have had to turn the power off for the better part of a day even after it had been restored so they could safely work on downed phone lines.

I have a feeling the power company is going to be forced to change its budget allocation to invest more each year into hardening, or burying, their power lines. It's been bad. Lots of old folks and families with little kids in the dark and cold.

The news last night showed the crews from Ireland who are here working alongside their French counterparts until all power is restored. The French helped the Irish a few years ago.