Nine departments in the north-west of France and two in the south have been placed on orange alert for “strong winds” with the passage of storm Darragh.
Violent winds will shake at least eleven departments of the metropolis on Saturday December 7 with the passage of storm Darragh. This “circulates from England to Belgium during the day on Saturday. It causes a clear strengthening of the wind in the country, in particular in the departments in orange”, specified Météo-France in its weather bulletin published Friday afternoon. Many departments in western and central France have also been placed in yellow.
From six a.m., nine western departments will be on orange alert, i.e. the northwest coastal departments. Namely: Finistère, Morbihan, Côtes-d’Armor, Ille-et-Vilaine, Manche, Calvados, Somme, Seine-Maritime and Pas-de-Calais. “Locally stormy showers near the coasts generate sometimes violent gusts of wind, particularly on coastlines exposed to west to northwest winds,” details the meteorological agency on its website. Gusts around 90 to 110 km/h are expected, even up to 120 km/h on the coasts. In Seine-Maritime, all trains were canceled in anticipation by the SNCF, reports Actu.fr.
From 2 p.m., Aude and the Pyrénées-Orientales will also switch to orange vigilance. “The gusts could reach 110 to 120 km/h, locally up to 130 km/h on the plains of Roussillon, the Leucate sector as well as in the Vallespir and the relief of Albères,” explains Météo-France. The four coastal departments of Nouvelle-Aquitaine could also go into orange vigilance, the agency warned.