Three die as snow hits eastern and central France
Three people died on Thursday after the season's first snowfall caused traffic chaos in France.
Issued on: Modified:
A 20-year-old driver died on Thursday morning when she lost control of her car and crashed into a tree in the eastern Haut-Rhin department.
A Morrocan woman died in a coach crash caused by the snowfall on the A31 motorway in the Haute-Marne also in the east.
And a power company employee was electrocuted while carrying out repairs in the central Puy-de-Dôme area.
Although an official weather alert was lifted in some areas on Thursday morning, 90,000 homes were still without power, mainly in eastern and central France:
- 68,000 in the Rhône-Alpes;
- 10,000 in Auvergne;
- 5,000 in Burgundy.
About 1,500 employees of the ERDF electricity supply company were still working on the national grid on Thursday.
Road traffic was seriously disrupted in the southern Rhône-Alpes and school buses were interrupted in the Loire, Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme.
Lyon-Saint-Exupéry airport expected flight delays and train traffic in the Rhônes-Alpes was partially affected.
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe