Storm Goretti battered northern Europe with heavy snow and gale-force winds, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes, closing schools and suspending rail services across France, Britain and Germany as the region endured a week of freezing weather.
Emergency crews from the Atlantic coast to the North Sea scrambled to clear downed trees, restore power and keep key corridors open after Goretti slammed into Britain yesterday and moved eastward overnight.
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France absorbed some of the worst of the impacts as the storm swept ashore. About 380,000 households lost electricity, mainly in Normandy and Brittany, authorities said. Winds topping 150 km/h were recorded in the northwestern Manche department, with a record 213 km/h in Barfleur, forcing national rail operator SNCF to suspend services between Paris and Normandy. The storm’s strength, which tore off roofs and uprooted trees, was “exceptional,” Manche prefect Marc Chappuis told BFM TV.
French state utility EDF said the weather disrupted electricity production at the Flamanville nuclear power plant, taking reactors one and three offline following the loss of a high-voltage line.
In the United Kingdom, rail operators warned passengers not to travel and suspended some services as the system worked to recover. The Met Office said this morning that Storm Goretti “continues to cause problems,” with a mix of rain, sleet and snow. Yellow warnings for snow and ice were extended into tomorrow for large parts of Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.
Energy networks in Britain reported widespread outages. By midday today, more than 40,000 properties were without power in the southwest, about 11,000 in the West Midlands, more than 500 in the East Midlands and more than 400 in Wales, according to the National Grid’s website.
Air travel was also hit. At least 69 flights to or from London’s Heathrow Airport were canceled today, likely affecting more than 9,000 passengers. Wintry conditions are expected to grip much of the UK through the weekend as cleanup continues.
Germany faced significant disruption as Goretti advanced. State-owned Deutsche Bahn halted long-distance train services until further notice, citing one of the most severe winter weather events in the region in many years. “So far, we have been able to avoid situations where passengers are left stranded on the open track for long periods of time,” a Deutsche Bahn spokesperson said at Berlin’s central station, adding that crews were working to clear tracks quickly and safely. Around 40 flights were canceled at Hamburg Airport, northern Germany’s busiest air terminal.
Ripple effects extended across the continent. Dutch carrier KLM canceled 80 flights to and from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Friday; Schiphol earlier this week had already axed hundreds of flights due to freezing weather. In Hungary, the military was deployed to assist motorists trapped in heavy snow.
The storm’s wider footprint compounded an already harsh cold spell in the Western Balkans, where authorities reported widespread disruption since Sunday. In Albania, one person was found dead after extensive flooding, while gale-force winds ripped roofs off buildings in northeastern Turkey.
Officials warned that conditions could remain hazardous as temperatures stay low and strong winds persist. Crews in multiple countries continued clearing roads and rails, while power companies raced to reconnect remaining customers.
Additional reporting: PA
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
