Storm Austen cuts power to 161,000 homes in north-west France

Storm Austen cut power to about 161 000 homes in north-west France on Friday, with Brittany hit hardest, grid operator Enedis said. The outages came as Meteo-France placed 23 departments, stretching from Brittany to the Paris region and northern France, under an orange warning for strong winds.

Of the homes left without power, 128 000 were in Brittany, 19 000 in the Pays de la Loire region and 14 000 in Normandy, according to Enedis, which said more than 2 000 staff were ready to work on repairs as conditions allowed.

In Normandy, the Pont de Normandie, Pont de Tancarville and Pont de Brotonne bridges were closed because of the storm, cutting some of the region's main road crossings over the Seine estuary.

Rail operator SNCF said train services were badly disrupted in the north and west of France, with altered schedules and some services cancelled on Inoui and Ouigo high-speed routes between Rennes and Brest and between Rennes and Quimper. Travellers were advised to check their journey before setting out.

In the Pontivy area of Morbihan, a tree fell on a power line at Saint-Nizion, and the Bauzo area of Malguenac had been without electricity since the previous evening, mayor Olivier Guegan said. He said Enedis crews had been mobilised with chainsaws and expected power to be restored in Bauzo by midday and across the area by mid-afternoon.

Morbihan's fire and rescue service received 551 emergency calls overnight and carried out a dozen interventions, mostly to clear fallen trees and branches from roads, the department's civil protection office said. About 45 000 homes in Morbihan, and 130 000 across Brittany as a whole, were left without power, local officials said.