As many as 16 départements were placed on Orange alert – the second highest level of warning – due to the fierce winds and high tides, with the public advised to stay away from the shore.
In Finistère, Brittany, the western most département in France, gusts of up to 139km/h were recorded overnight on Sunday .
Winds regularly topped 120km/h as the storm blew through the north and west of the country.
La plus forte rafale dans la #Manche #tempête #ruzica relevés @meteofrance via @KeraunosObs #meteo pic.twitter.com/yQ3CTBHy1T
— Martial Defoy (@martialdefoy) February 8, 2016
The wind upturned an advertising hoarding in Paris, not far from the Arc de Triomphe, seriously injuring two people (see tweet below).
One of them, a young woman in her early 20s was left fighting for her life and suffering serious head wounds. She was rushed to a hospital in a coma, while the other, a young man, suffered a broken leg, reported Le Parisien newspaper.
La chute d’un panneau publicitaire fait deux blessés graves à Paris https://t.co/SBh02faLu4 pic.twitter.com/MNvtHmWoEc
— Le Parisien | Paris (@LeParisien_75) February 8, 2016
The gusts of wind brought down power cables and thousands were left with out electricity ion Brittany and Normandy: 4,000 in the départment La Manche and another 5,000 across Brittany.
The Pont de Normandie bridge over the Seine had to be closed on Monday morning when a lorry was blown over.
Info > camion couché sur le pont de Normandie, direction Honfleur.
Photo : @Resonance_redac pic.twitter.com/JLY8JnZTw5
— Météo du 76 (@meteo_76) February 8, 2016
Nos équipes sont sur le terrain et font le maximum pour un retour rapide à la normale #coupdevent pic.twitter.com/FVEGCPpIQQ
— ERDF en Normandie (@erdf_normandie) February 8, 2016
Tempête en #Normandie. 139 km/h dans le #Calvados, à Bernières. Images sur @NormandieActu https://t.co/r7q3oa8nIr pic.twitter.com/NsiYz4Uev9
— Briac Trébert (@BriacTrebert) February 8, 2016
The coastal départements from Finistére up to Pas-de-Calais were all placed on alert for dangerously high waves as the winds combined with a hide tides.
DIRECT. Avis de tempête sur toute la facade ouest, seize départements en vigilance orange https://t.co/eW27yE1Quh
— mongo 0468 (@mongo0468) February 8, 2016
Météo. Tempête sur l'Ouest, 139 km/h de vent en Bretagne et Normandie: https://t.co/tUnB7uJxr8 #meteo pic.twitter.com/seVuzs7ueI
— Ouest-France (@OuestFrance) February 8, 2016
Les Côtes-d'Armor demeureront en vigilance orange “vent et vagues submersion” jusqu'à demain, au moins. #tempête pic.twitter.com/0jBRqBlnbw
— Chérie FM 22 (@CherieFM22) February 8, 2016
The Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve called on those who live along the Atlantic and Channel coasts to take the utmost care.
Previous storms that have hit the French coast have ended in tragedy with people having been swept away by the sea after having ventured too close.
(A wave crashes over harbour wall at Auderville, north western France. AFP)
France’s national weather service Météo France warned that that the strong winds would see the waves along the coast increase in size through Monday and it could lead to part of the shoreline being submerged.
The weather system will have passed by late Monday evening.
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