Seven people dead as Ciaran lashes Europe
Seven people were killed as Storm Ciaran battered Western Europe on Thursday, bringing record winds as high as 200 kilometres per hour, floods, blackouts and major travel disruptions. Some 1.2 million French homes lost electricity overnight as the storm lashed the northwest coast, and most remained without power on Thursday. In the Belgian city of Ghent a five-year-old child was killed by falling branches while playing outside. Also in Ghent, a falling branch killed a 64-year-old woman walking in the city's Citadel Park with her husband and daughter who was seriously injured. Falling trees had earlier killed a lorry driver in his vehicle in France's Aisne region, and French authorities also reported the death of a man who fell from his balcony in the port city of Le Havre. A man in the Dutch town of Venray, a woman in central Madrid, and a person in Germany also died. "The wind gusts are exceptional in Brittany and many absolute records have been broken," Meteo-France, the national weather service, said on X (formerly Twitter). The prefect for the local department said gusts as high as 207 km/h (129 mph) were recorded at Pointe du Raz on the tip of the northwest coast, while the port city of Brest saw winds hit 156 km/h. In southern England, hundreds of schools were closed as large waves powered by winds of 135 km/hour crashed along the coastline. On the Channel Island of Jersey, residents had to be evacuated to hotels overnight as gusts of up to 164 km/hour damaged homes, according to local media. More than 200 flights were cancelled at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, a major European hub. Air, rail and ferry services saw cancellations and long delays across several countries. "Due to a warm autumn with a lot of rain, trees still have their leaves, and the ground is as wet as a sponge," said Roosmarijn Knol, weather forecaster for Dutch public broadcaster NOS. "Therefore, especially weak trees have a good chance of falling over. That is a big difference from an autumn storm at, say, the end of November, when all the leaves have already fallen." Britain's Environment Agency warned of "significant flooding along parts of the south coast and along parts of the Yorkshire and Northeast coasts". The effects of the storm were felt as far south as Spain and Portugal, with Spanish authorities warning of waves as high as nine metres along the Atlantic coast. In France's northern Pas-de-Calais, authorities opened gymnasiums and shelters for migrants who converge on the region hoping to make it to Britain by boat. (AFP)