Northwest Europe has been hit hard by the powerful storm Ciarán, which claimed at least seven lives and injured around 50 people.
Thousands of trees have fallen in the strong winds and schools have been forced to close, and flights, trains and buses have been suspended due to strong winds and torrential rain.
“The gusts are exceptional in Brittany and many records have been broken” writes the national weather service Meteo-France on X.
Reports of deaths in several countries
In France, worst hit by the storm, a truck driver was killed by a falling tree, authorities said Thursday. At the same time, more than 1.2 million people are without power.
Deaths have also been reported in Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
Storm Ciarán, which comes two weeks after Storm Babet, was driven by a powerful jet stream that swept in from the Atlantic, causing heavy rain and strong winds that have already led to severe flooding in Northern Ireland and parts of the UK.
The storm has also reached southern Spain where the authorities have issued red weather warnings. There, authorities are warning of waves, which can be up to nine meters high, along the northern Atlantic coast.
Ciarán is expected to move further from the Atlantic coast towards land during Thursday.