One storm after another: French government services, teams from electricity distributor Enedi, businesses and local residents affected by Storm Ciaran were still busy clearing away the damage caused in its aftermath when a new low-pressure system, named Domingos, swept through part of France on the night of November 4. This time, it was the Atlantic seaboard that bore the brunt of this new meteorological event. One Enedis employee was killed in Brittany, the company said on Sunday.

On the western coast, wind speeds reached 155 km/h on the Oléron Island, 147 km/h on the neighboring Ile de Ré, 138 km/h in the city of Rochefort and 121 km/h in La Rochelle. In 230 towns across this area, 55,000 households were left without power on Sunday morning. Enedis's rapid electrical intervention force was hard at work, with reinforcements expected from France's southeastern regions. A century-old carrousel, crushed by a tree on Place Colbert in downtown Rochefort, bears witness to the violence of the gusts.

According to La Rochelle Mayor Jean-François Fountaine, only one man was slightly injured in the city, by a falling tree. The storm caused a great deal of material damage, though, in particular from falling trees, branches, electrical cables and damaged roofs. Local emergency services recorded almost 200 operations, with more than 700 firefighters mobilized throughout the night.

Many roads were also flooded or blocked by falling trees, and some schools will have to remain closed due to damage. The area remains under orange alert for flooding, waves and submersions.

During the night, the department of Gironde also recorded strong gusts of wind, up to 151 km/h on the coast. Although the winds were impressive, the prefecture has stated that "no critical centers were affected in Gironde, and no casualties were reported." Nearly 800 firefighters were mobilized, and 24,000 homes are still without power on Sunday afternoon. The tramway and bus network, which was halted in Bordeaux on Saturday evening, gradually resumed services from 8 am on Sunday.

This Sunday morning, Amaury Willot will not be able to play his scheduled tennis match at Arcachon's tennis club. An early morning voicemail told him that the protective bubble covering the tennis courts had been blown away. "I got up around 4 am and saw that it was pouring outside," said his wife, Louise. The water-filled roads in Louise and Amaury's residential neighborhood were barely navigable when the family tried to get out for a breath of fresh air. Not far away, in La Teste-de-Buch, Hamza (who declined to give his surname) noticed some damage to his residence's parking lot, but nothing serious. Yesterday, this surfer had gone to see the ocean from afar, as the beaches were closed. "The [seaside] promenade was still accessible, the sand was whipping around our faces. But the wind clearly kicked up a notch around 10 pm," he explained.

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