Heavy rain and winds from Storm Fabien brought the island of Corsica to a standstill on Sunday with flight cancellations days before the Christmas holiday.
The airport in Ajaccio remained closed on Monday due to flooding on the runway. Images from Sunday showed severe flooding at the airport located on the French island’s western coast.
The death toll from fierce back-to-back storms pummeling Spain, Portugal and France has risen to nine as the region reels from more powerful winds and flooding.
Europeans looking for a White Christmas are set to be disappointed as unseasonally warm air and wet weather are likely to characterise the festive season. Instead, it will be wet windy and grey and unfortunately for some without electricity.
Storm Fabian battered the cliffside of Spain and Portugal, flooding the streets with foam and water on Dec. 22: https://t.co/CCG4exGWMm pic.twitter.com/flWReTwkLG
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) December 23, 2019
As that storm subsided, Storm Fabian barreled off the Atlantic into Portugal, northern Spain and western France on Saturday packing winds of up to 170 KM (105 miles) per hour and torrential rain battered France’s southwest Aquitaine coast.
Air Corsica cancelled 50 flights on Sunday and said in a press release that they were working to create an airbridge in northern Corsica (Haute-Corse). They said they were working to add 51 flights to France and Belgium from Bastia in Haute-Corse.
Mainland France also suffered heavy rain and winds and flooding on Sunday.
18,000 homes were without electricity in France, primarily in New Aquitaine, However at around 8:00 am CET (7.00 am GMT) on Sunday morning, there were a staggering 95,000 homes without electricity.
France’s electric board are working to restore power services to those affected by the storm Fabian, but the worsening weather conditions are making these efforts more difficult.
As it stands On Corsica, 3,500 homes were also cut off Sunday night.
This compounds the countries problems with ongoing strikes which are causing major disruption and headaches for people during the busiest time of the year.
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