Five departments on weather alert after Storm Ana

Five departments remain on orange weather alert and 22,000 homes are without power after Storm Ana swept across the country on Monday.

Residents in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments are again being warned to beware of snow and icy conditions, while - in the southeast of the country - areas of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes and Alpes-Maritimes are on avalanche alert, with more than a metre of snow expected above 2,000m in parts of the southern Alps.

The current weather alerts are will remain in place until the early afternoon, forecaster Météo France said.

Meanwhile, engineers are working to restore power to 13,000 homes in the Nord and another 9,000 in Pas-de-Calais. About 120,000 homes were blacked out at the height of the storm on Monday, an EDF spokesman.

School buses were cancelled this morning in the two northern departments due to the weather conditions. France Bleu Nord said that the cancellations extended to intercity buses on the Arc-en-Ciel and Oscar networks.

Winds of more than 160kph were recorded on the île de Ré as Storm Ana passed, according to official figures.