Thousands of households experienced power outages and regional train services were disrupted in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France on Tuesday evening following intense thunderstorms, according to Enedis and the SNCF (French National Railway Company).
Power Outage Impacts 23,000 Customers
“Following the storms that impacted the Centre-Val de Loire region, a disruption in the high-voltage network managed by RTE near Blois occurred at 8:00 PM, leaving 23,000 customers without electricity at the peak of the event,” announced Enedis, the electricity distribution network operator, in a statement to AFP.
“Thanks to remote operations carried out by Enedis on the distribution network, over 50% of households had their power restored by 10:00 PM,” Enedis further clarified.
Restoration Efforts Ongoing
Power restoration efforts are “still ongoing,” and teams from both Enedis and RTE are mobilized “to limit the impact of this incident and restore electricity as quickly as possible for the remaining customers.”
“Fewer than 10,000 households” were still affected after 11:00 PM, according to Enedis.
Rail Traffic Interrupted
The storms also led to the interruption of train traffic between Tours and Blois “due to a power supply failure in the Limeray area” caused by “violent storms that swept through the sector,” according to the SNCF.
The company specified that “two trains” were stopped on the tracks “shortly after 8:00 PM” as a result of the outage.
Priority on Passenger Assistance
Priority was given to “taking care of the passengers,” and by 11:00 PM, the teams dispatched to the site were close to resolving the situation, the SNCF further detailed to AFP.
Weather Alerts in Place
Météo France, the national meteorological service, issued orange-level storm alerts for twelve departments and orange-level heatwave alerts for 45 departments.
The Paris region and several areas hosting Olympic events were also affected and expected to be hit by the stormy weather in the evening, leading to the closure of several fan zones.