As expected, the storm Leiv began to hit on Saturday morning,on the Atlantic coast and mainly focused on three departments, Charente, Charente-Maritime and Gironde which are on Red Alert for “winds”.
The weather system of exceptional power could cause major damage in several places along the Atlantic coast. The warning of high winds is also in effect until 1pm today.
Up to 160 km/h
During the night and the early hours of the morning, the westerly winds on the southwest of France have quickly gained speed, gusts quickly reaching 110 to 120 km/h on the coast of Vendée, 130 km/h on the coast Landes and South Gironde, 140 to 160 km/h on the north coast of Gironde and the coast of Charente-Maritime. It also expects an episode of strong waves on the coast and a significant raising of the sea level in the Charente-Maritime and north of the Gironde.
Power Cuts reported
At 5 am this morning, a wind gust of 148 km/h was measured at Cap Ferret at the entrance of the Arcachon basin. Enedis ( formerly ERDF, a subsidiary of EDF) pointed out during its tally at 8am, about 250,000 homes were without power.
The bridge of Oleron Island was closed to all traffic by preventative measures. The same if the tidal coefficient remains low (61) Saturday morning, the sea level in La Rochelle will approach one of the highest astronomical tides.
Fourteen other departments Landes, Deux-Sèvres, Dordogne, Vienne, Indre-et-Loire, Indre, Haute-Vienne, Corrèze, Vendée, Creuse, Cher, Allier, Puy-de-Dôme and Loire were placed in orange alert “winds”. The end event is scheduled this Saturday at 4pm.
