Winds of up to 120km/h as northern France put on alert over storms
Three departments have been put on the second-highest orange alert as Storm Noa sweeps in. Several ferry crossings have been cancelled
People in the affected departments should be cautious when going outside
angel217 / Shutterstock
Three departments have been put on the second-highest alert level for strong winds as storms sweep across northern France.
Manche, Pas-de-Calais and Seine-Maritime have been singled out as being at the most risk from violent gusts on Wednesday (April 12).
Winds of up to 120km/h are expected on exposed coastal areas, says Météo France.
Some cross-Channel ferry services have been cancelled as a result of the high winds.
Brittany Ferries scrapped its Plymouth-Roscoff sailing on Tuesday (April 11) evening due to the weather. It also cancelled Portsmouth-Cherbourg and Le Havre-Portsmouth crossings on Wednesday.
DFDS said it had cancelled Dover-Calais and Newhaven-Dieppe crossings, in both directions, on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, France train operator SNCF said Caen-Cherbourg and Caen-Granville services could be disrupted by the wind.
Météo France placed Manche, Pas-de-Calais and Seine-Maritime on orange alert for high winds from midday to 23:00 on Wednesday.
This is the second most severe weather warning and means residents should exercise extreme caution when outside and restrict travel if possible.
The rest of northern France is on the lower yellow warning for winds and storms.
You can look at the official Météo France page here (page has been down from this morning but expected back soon) to see the latest warnings.
Last week, another storm – Mathis – caused the death of a man in Vosges and another in Alsace due to falling trees.
Storm Mathis also saw orange-level warnings in Manche and Pas-de-Calais.
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