Heavy snowfall caused traffic paralysis in central and northern France. There was a collision near Paris involving several vehicles, over 30 people were injured. There were also huge traffic jams on several highways – over two thousand trucks were stuck in one place.
It passed over France on Thursday storm Caetano. There was a zone of heavy snowfall over the northern and central parts of the country, and drivers had to cope with slippery surfaces and poor visibility. There were also disruptions to air traffic.
A traffic jam for thousands of trucks
Heavy snowfall led to many road accidents. The most serious one occurred in the Marne Valley near Paris, where four passenger cars, a bus and a motorcycle collided. The police reported that in deteriorating weather conditions, one of the drivers lost control of the vehicle, forcing the bus driver to pull to the side. The bus rolled on its side and crushed another car and a motorcycle. 36 people were injured, five of them seriously.
Difficult conditions also existed near France's eastern border. According to data from the Doubs department, between 2,000 and 2,500 trucks were stuck in a traffic jam on the snow-covered A36 motorway on Friday. The sudden drop in temperature in the morning caused the road to become icy and made it impossible to continue driving. Kilometer-long traffic jams also occurred in Normandy on the A28 motorway.
Hundreds of thousands without electricity
The daily “Le Monde” reported that due to difficult weather conditions, there were power outages for 270,000 customers. On Friday at 7 a.m., approximately 200,000 households remained without electricity, mainly in Normandy and the Loire Valley.
According to the Meteo-France meteorological agency, although the Caetano storm has already left France, the meteorological situation remains difficult. On Friday afternoon, warnings of snow and frozen roads were in force in 51 departments, mainly in northern France.
Main photo source: ENEX