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[quote user="Benjamin"]http://www.xcweather.co.uk/index.php?Loc=FR

This site gives wind forecasts as well as history. Nowhere near some of the speeds being claimed by some posters.  [:P][/quote]

yeah, right, hilarious...

The journalist on FR2 news just now must have been lying when he mentioned gusts of up to 170km/h and the préfet inthe Landes declared a plan ORSEC for a laugh...

http://info.france2.fr/france/50821604-fr.php

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Hoping it has calmed down here too (Ruffec/Civray). Nothing out of the ordinary (thankfully), just very windy with a lot of rain plus some snow mixed in. I've been out resecuring a tarpaulin that I've lashed over the roof of a half-renovated porcherie. We had a power outage for about 30 minutes earlier, but I can hear that things are dying down even as I type [:D]

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Its not that windy here in the Tarn...pretty blustery, but nothing out of the ordinary. Raining a lot though.

Having said that though, here are some enourmous trees at the bottom of the garden - one has gone over, but is caught up in the branches of its neighbours, so hasnt "fallen" properly, and two others look like they might go too if things get any worse. I was planning on cutting them down next week anyway, so no major hassle really.

 

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[quote user="Clair"][quote user="Benjamin"]http://www.xcweather.co.uk/index.php?Loc=FR
This site gives wind forecasts as well as history. Nowhere near some of the speeds being claimed by some posters.  [:P][/quote]
yeah, right, hilarious...
The journalist on FR2 news just now must have been lying when he mentioned gusts of up to 170km/h and the préfet inthe Landes declared a plan ORSEC for a laugh...
http://info.france2.fr/france/50821604-fr.php
[/quote]

Cap Ferret, Arcachon 172 kmh recorded, an exposed location to the Atlantic.

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Calmed down here a lot now and we haven't had a power cut all evening, just most of the day on and off!

The meteo announced that the wind reached 184 kph in Perpignan, the highest on mainland France on record. Only about 150 kph here though, but no real damage. Quite scary though when the gusts were enough to make my ears pop when I was in the house!

They also announced on BFMTV, channel 15 digital, that the Aude was closed to all traffic at one point. Quite how that worked I don't know and I was not about to go and see!

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[quote user="Clair"][quote user="Benjamin"]http://www.xcweather.co.uk/index.php?Loc=FR

This site gives wind forecasts as well as history. Nowhere near some of the speeds being claimed by some posters.  [:P][/quote]

yeah, right, hilarious...

The journalist on FR2 news just now must have been lying when he mentioned gusts of up to 170km/h and the préfet inthe Landes declared a plan ORSEC for a laugh...

http://info.france2.fr/france/50821604-fr.php

[/quote]

Thank you, Miss, for that rap across the knuckles.

There was no intent to be flippant, hilarious or unfeeling of others plight in my posting.

The site I referenced bases it's historical data, albeit for only the previous hour or so, on, I believe, actual weather stations. From memory the highest wind speed that I recall seeing was 62 mph (approximately 100 kph) around the Agen area at the time I made the posting.

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Now it is all over and I've put the computer back on to a gloriously sunny day, I can say that it was very windy , very gusty, and I was out shopping (not too bad when I set out and up till 10am no real sign of bad weather) but the wind and especially the gusts started getting bad about 10.30 am onwards.  Knocking you backwards etc in Narbonne (always a windy place at the best of times). Problems getting home with trees down - hard to make several detours, and thought it was all a bit quiet on the roads for a Saturday morning.  Arrived back to be greeted by hubby saying he was getting worried about me.  Problem - church bell and tower had fallen into the church, and our house (about 50 yards away) had the best view of the roof so here where I am typing was "invaded" by the maire and various other bigwigs.  (And I missed it all!!!)   The place d'eglise is used for parking, and one car is immobilised, fortunately no-one was in it or they would have been dead - a very large chunk of concrete (and we suspect the bell also) is now in the car - no roof etc.  The villagers had been told to stay indoors, hence hubby's concern for me. 

Fortunately our own damage seems to be a broken aerial and a roof tile down.  We can only be grateful it is so minor.

So, for those who were not in its path - it was very feriocious but fortunately relative short lived. 

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That all sounds quite scary Judith, just been looking on the webcam at Narbonne and as you say all looks sunny and happy. We have a house quite near Narbonne also so will be getting someone to check it out today, fingers crossed!!
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[quote user="Benjamin"]Thank you, Miss, for that rap across the knuckles.[/quote]

Sorry Benjamin, no unpleasantness meant. I understand your info was not up to date.

As I had just watched the French news coverage of the damage, it was rather surprising to read your post inferring people were exaggerating.

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I have just e-mailed my brother having read what you are all saying - he is outside Perpignan at Espira d'Agly, past the airport. Anyone in that area know how bad it was around there?

I have to contact my neighbours to see how bad it was in the Haute Vienne - the house needs a new roof, I hope this will not have damaged it too much!

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Thanks cooperlola - have just managed to phone my brother on mobile. The phone lines are down and he lost around 14 trees. He can't get out of his house as two big trees are blocking the drive. Apparently the Mayor has just been to see him to see what they can do - one of the trees is resting on their small 'cabin', that they rent out but apparently does not seem to have damaged it.

They have just had the electricity back on, although it is imtermittent - this means they have had no water as the underground pump was unable to function. He said he went out during the storm and was walking at an angle of 45degrees.

The airport is now open and apparently it is 16 degrees and sunshine today.They are thankful they are ok though.

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Posted this in another section but seems appropriate:

36 hours without power, 37 hours without water and telephones.

But what fun, lots of community pulling together, done the rounds of the vulnerable, helped a few people with downed trees.

Usually have central heating but we also have an unused insert since the first winter we were here - until last night!

Have loads of rainwater saved for the garden so used that, boiled for washing and washing up, bottled water to drink.

Fridges and freezers ok.

Phew, wouldn't like to do it all again but at least our emergency kit of wood, torches, batteries and candles all worked out.

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[quote user="toni"]That all sounds quite scary Judith, just been looking on the webcam at Narbonne and as you say all looks sunny and happy. We have a house quite near Narbonne also so will be getting someone to check it out today, fingers crossed!![/quote]

It seems to have been "Patchy" in its effect, for example, we walked around the village today (turned a lovely day weatherwise!) and saw trees down (very large roots just turned over due to the wet ground) and some chimneys off, but really except for the church, most houses are fine. A few lost  tiles, but really it did not look like a scene of devastation.  So if your house is not too exposed it may well be fine.  The highest winds were at Perpignan, and several villages nearby lost power (we didn't fortunately) but we do seem to have been let off lightly compared with the Landes, Aquitaine and Spain.

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[quote user="dave21478"]

Its not that windy here in the Tarn...pretty blustery, but nothing out of the ordinary. Raining a lot though.

Having said that though, here are some enourmous trees at the bottom of the garden - one has gone over, but is caught up in the branches of its neighbours, so hasnt "fallen" properly, and two others look like they might go too if things get any worse. I was planning on cutting them down next week anyway, so no major hassle really.

 

[/quote]

 

Spoke too soon there....Electricity went off not long after I posted that, and came back on about 3 hours ago. [blink] Unfortunately, there are guests in the gite just now, with 3 very young children. The electric heating was obviously H.S. but both my house and the gite have log fires, so heat wasnt a problem. I have a generator, so lots of extension leads meant that some table lights could be used and the fridge freezers were ok, plus other low power stuff like TV`s could be used. The local shop sold out of candles within a few minutes, and the shopkeeper was telling me there is likely to be an explosion in childbirths in 9 months time - seemingly a common thing when the power goes down for a while![kiss]

The phone lines were down too, and the Orange mobile network (the only one that works here) is still not working.

The two trees that were dodgy never blew over, but are leaning quite alarmingly - I will cut them down tomorrow. The one that did break and is caught in anothers branches is going to prove rather tricky. I will have to bring my brother in laws tractor round and see if the Cuma`s big winch is available. Its very thoroughly wedged, so will be hard to bring down safely.

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[quote user="Jonzjob"]More likely that the 'haunted fish tank' wasn't working?

Crikey, can you imagine all those people actually having to talk to each other and not being able to sit and goggle at the box in the corner [:-))] ![/quote]

In nine month's time... We'll see how many of them talked, and how many had other fish to fry!

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