Hundreds of thousands without power as storms hit Europe

Cherbourg: Fierce winds battered France and Britain on Friday as storms barrelled through northern Europe, snarling train travel, shutting schools and...

Cherbourg: Fierce winds battered France and Britain on Friday as storms barrelled through northern Europe, snarling train travel, shutting schools and cutting power to hundreds of thousands of homes in plunging winter temperatures.

Forecasters from Britain to Germany urged people to stay inside as they issued weather warnings, including the rare, highest-level red wind alert for the British Isles of Scilly and Cornwall in southwestern England.

Fields and properties following overnight snowfall, near the town of Holmfirth, northern England on January 9, 2026 (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

In France, Storm Goretti cut power to some 380,000 homes, most of them in the northern Normandy region, the Enedis power provider said, while Britain's National Grid said 42,000 homes lost electricity in southwest England and thousands more elsewhere.

Overnight, gusts of up to 216 kilometres per hour (134 miles per hour) were registered in France's northwestern Manche region, authorities said.