Storm Goretti blacks out homes and disrupts travel across northern Europe

Storm Goretti has brought gale-force winds, heavy snow and freezing temperatures to parts of northern Europe, causing widespread power outages, flight cancellations and major transport disruption.

Thousands of homes were left without electricity, flights were cancelled and rail services disrupted as Storm Goretti battered northern Europe on Friday, compounding a week of severe winter weather.

The storm struck Britain on Thursday before moving east into continental Europe. In Germany, state rail operator Deutsche Bahn described the conditions as one of the most severe winter weather events in recent years, halting long-distance train services nationwide.

Around 380,000 households in France lost power, mainly in Normandy and Brittany, although by midday about 60,000 homes had been reconnected. In Scotland and central England, around 60,000 households were also affected.

In the Netherlands, flights were cancelled as heavy snowfall was expected to return after a brief lull. KLM said it cancelled 80 flights to and from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Friday, following hundreds of cancellations earlier in the week due to freezing conditions.

Winds exceeding 150 kilometres per hour were recorded in France’s northwestern Manche region, with a record 213 kilometres per hour reported in Barfleur, forcing rail operator SNCF to suspend services between Paris and Normandy.

France’s state energy company EDF said two nuclear reactors at the Flamanville power station were taken offline after a high-voltage line was disrupted. Across western Europe, wholesale power prices rose amid the outages.

In England’s West Midlands, rail services were suspended as heavy snow blanketed the region, with residents advised to remain at home where possible.

In northern Germany, Hamburg Airport cancelled about 40 flights, while a Bundesliga football match between St Pauli and RB Leipzig scheduled for Saturday was postponed. Carmaker Volkswagen closed its Wolfsburg plant early on Friday, while another facility in Emden remained shut.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Hungarian military was deployed to assist motorists stranded in heavy snow. In the Western Balkans, disruption has continued since Sunday, with one person found dead in Albania following flooding, while strong winds tore roofs off buildings in northeastern Türkiye.

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