Storms batter France, Britain and Switzerland

A storm swept across northern France yesterday, leaving some 400,000 homes without power, after high winds and gales hit Britain and Switzerland.

It was the second big storm to hit France in less than three weeks after gale force winds killed four people and left close to two million homes without power on January 24 in the southwest.

In an unusual precautionary measure, authorities halted all air traffic in the Paris region on Monday evening. Planes started flying again from around 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) yesterday, with delays expected for a number of flights.

Meteo France, the weather forecast agency, said winds of up to 140 kph had buffeted the northwestern coast, while inland gusts of up to 120 kph had been recorded.

By 4 p.m. (1500 GMT), the agency had lifted its alert for violent winds which applied to about 60 departments in France on Monday evening.

The manager of the power grid, Electricité Réseau Distribution France, said earlier that a total 608,000 homes were cut off from the power grid across northern regions of the country as trees and electricity pylons fell down.

It later revised that figure to around 400,000 homes.

The worst-hit areas were a belt of regions along the centre of the country, the coastal Pays de la Loire, the region around Orleans, just to the east, and Burgundy, further east.

Meteo France said the weather was less intense than the January 24 storm but affected a wider swathe of the country and would last longer. It expected the storm to move east of France later.

In Brittany and along the Vendee coast, bridges to certain islands were shut down because they were too risky in the winds, but few other transport disruptions were reported.

Switzerland was swept by high winds on Monday night and Tuesday morning, with gales reaching up to 150 kph in the Jura mountains on the border with France.

Winds were expected to strengthen during the day, moving east into the more densely populated areas of the country.

Storms swept Britain yesterday bringing heavy rain, fierce winds and more snow and sleet in some areas, raising the risk of serious flooding.

The Environment Agency issued 95 flood warnings, mostly in southern and southwest England with a severe one issued for parts of East Anglia. As heavy rain swept across the south, some areas recorded close to their monthly average rainfall for February in 24 hours, forecasters said.

More snow has been falling in the Midlands, east Wales and Gloucestershire, where at least 3,000 homes have been left without electricity.