En France ce week-end, le seul sujet de conversation, c'était la météo (mot du jour). Samedi soir, la tempête Xynthia est arrivée par l'ouest et le sud-ouest de la Métropole, et pendant 17 heures l'a traversée en direction du nord-est avant de continuer son parcours dévastateur dans d'autres pays européens.
Les grands vents de Xynthia, qui atteignaient parfois jusqu'à 216 kilomètres par heure, se sont joints à la marée haute, aux fortes vagues et aux pluies torrentielles pour créer une « Tempête parfaite ». Au plus fort de cette tempête, l'une des plus violentes en France depuis celle de 1999, la carte de vigilance météorologique montrait quatre départements mis en alerte rouge (vigilance absolue) et 69 en orange (très vigilant). Le reste de la France était en vigilance jaune (attentif).
En traversant l'Hexagone, Xynthia a tué plus de 50 personnes, la plupart sur le littoral atlantique, à cause des digues rompues et des eaux qui ont si vite monté que les victimes se sont noyées chez elles.
Dimanche matin, un million de foyers étaient privés d'électricité. Elle a été rétablie dans la moitié d'entre eux le soir même, mais il se peut que l'autre moitié doive attendre des jours, même avec la mobilisation de 4 000 employés d'ERDF* et l'assistance de spécialistes étrangers. La circulation aérienne, ferroviaire et routière sont fortement perturbées, ce qui a dû compliquer la rentrée des vacanciers de Zone A.
*ERDF = Électricité Réseau Distribution France, la filiale d'EDF (Électricité de France) chargée des interventions techniques
Sources :
- 20minutes - La tempête Xynthia, « catastrophe nationale »
- L'Express - La tempête Xynthia aurait-elle pu être moins meurtrière ?
- Le Figaro - La tempête Xynthia fait au moins 45 morts
- Météo France - La tempête du 28 février 2010
- Ouest-France - Tempête : la France est en alerte
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English translation Please scroll down for the side-by-side translation.
National Catastrophe
In France this weekend, the only topic of conversation was the weather. Saturday night, Storm Xynthia arrived in the west and southwest of the country, and spent 17 hours crossing to the northeast before continuing its devastating route into other European countries.
Xynthia's strong winds, which reached up to 216 kilometers (134 miles) per hour, combined with a high tide, big waves, and torrential rains to create a "Perfect Storm." At the height of the storm, one of the most violent in France since 1999, the "meteorological vigilance" map showed four departments on red alert (absolute vigilance) and 69 on orange (very vigilant). The rest of France was on yellow alert (attentive).
While crossing France, Xynthia killed more than 50 people, mainly on the Atlantic coast, due to breaking dams and such quickly rising water that victims drowned in their own homes.
On Sunday morning, a million homes had no electricity. It was restored in half of them that evening, but the other half may need to wait for days, even with the mobilisation of 4,000 ERDF* employees and the assistance of foreign specialists. Air, rail, and road traffic are severely disrupted, which must have made returning home difficult for Zone A vacationers.
*ERDF = Électricité Réseau Distribution France, the subsidiary of EDF (Électricité de France) in charge of technical intervention
French news sources:
- 20minutes - Storm Xynthia, "national catastrophe"
- L'Express - Could Storm Xynthia have been less deadly?
- Le Figaro - Storm Xynthia kills at least 45
- Météo France - 28 February 2010's storm
- Ouest-France - Storm: France is on alert
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Side-by-side translation
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Catastrophe nationale En France ce week-end, le seul sujet de conversation, c'était la météo (mot du jour). Samedi soir, la tempête Xynthia est arrivée par l'ouest et le sud-ouest de la Métropole, et pendant 17 heures l'a traversée en direction du nord-est avant de continuer son parcours dévastateur dans d'autres pays européens. Les grands vents de Xynthia, qui atteignaient parfois jusqu'à 216 kilomètres par heure, se sont joints à la marée haute, aux fortes vagues et aux pluies torrentielles pour créer une « Tempête parfaite ». Au plus fort de cette tempête, l'une des plus violentes en France depuis celle de 1999, la carte de vigilance météorologique montrait quatre départements mis en alerte rouge (vigilance absolue) et 69 en orange (très vigilant). Le reste de la France était en vigilance jaune (attentif). En traversant l'Hexagone, Xynthia a tué plus de 50 personnes, la plupart sur le littoral atlantique, à cause des digues rompues et des eaux qui ont si vite monté que les victimes se sont noyées chez elles. |
National Catastrophe In France this weekend, the only topic of conversation was the weather. Saturday night, Storm Xynthia arrived in the west and southwest of the country, and spent 17 hours crossing to the northeast before continuing its devastating route into other European countries. Xynthia's strong winds, which reached up to 216 kilometers (134 miles) per hour, combined with a high tide, big waves, and torrential rains to create a "Perfect Storm." At the height of the storm, one of the most violent in France since 1999, the "meteorological vigilance" map showed four departments on red alert (absolute vigilance) and 69 on orange (very vigilant). The rest of France was on yellow alert (attentive). While crossing France, Xynthia killed more than 50 people, mainly on the Atlantic coast, due to breaking dams and such quickly rising water that victims drowned in their own homes. |
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Dimanche matin, un million de foyers étaient privés d'électricité. Elle a été
rétablie dans la moitié d'entre eux le soir même, mais il se peut que l'autre moitié doive attendre des
jours, même avec la mobilisation de 4 000 employés d'ERDF* et l'assistance
de spécialistes étrangers. La
circulation aérienne, ferroviaire et routière sont fortement perturbées, ce qui
a dû compliquer la rentrée des
vacanciers
de Zone A.
*ERDF = Électricité Réseau Distribution France, la filiale d'EDF (Électricité de France) chargée des interventions techniques Sources :
|
On Sunday morning, a million homes had no electricity. It was restored in
half of them that evening, but the other half may need to wait for days, even
with the mobilisation of 4,000 ERDF* employees and the assistance of foreign
specialists. Air, rail, and road traffic are severely disrupted, which must have
made returning home difficult for
Zone A
vacationers.
*ERDF = Électricité Réseau Distribution France, the subsidiary of EDF (Électricité de France) in charge of technical intervention French news sources:
|
I invite you to post comments related to this article below, but please post unrelated comments in the forum.
Comments
Very good article. Usually people are killed and hurt in storms by flying debris, but here most victims drowned when an old dike broke through in four places. Water rose so quickly that most victims were surprised in their sleep. Now they have to search house by house for bodies and they do not even know yet, Laura, how many more bodies they will find.
By declaring a state of emergency, Nickolas Sarkozy, the French president, made money available. He also went immediately to the disaster areas and ordered an inquiry into the causes of the dike break. He also questioned why houses had been allowed to be built in a flood plain. Echo’s of New Orleans here.
Those who live in Europe, or have lived there, know that there are severe storms every year, although this storm was unusually bad. However, vigilance with the dikes is a conditio sine qua non (Latin for an indispensable condition).
For the older generation, it is deja vu all over again
My prayers go out to everyone affected by this devastation. Along with so many people in Haiti, Indonesia, France and Chile, people are suffering in this world, so we should be thankful for our blessings and reach out to the less fortunate with our money, not just our words and sentiments.
Yes, the only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history. Humans are amazingly apathetic, don’t want to spend money to be pro-active, and then complain when systems don’t work because no attention or money was paid to maintain them.
I urge everyone to give a donation to the International Red Cross, which is helping people in all these locations. Comptez vos bénédictions!
Bien dite, Emilie.
Chère Laura,
C’est trés triste dans le monde 2010.
Jacqueline
Such devastating weather like many parts of the world .
I highly commend your teaching methods such as the mot du jour, verbs, tests ,expressions, and the links to follow and your news and the opportunity to comment .
It is how we used to teach children in primary school .
First thing would be morning news, where children bring from home, news or toys or even pets or found treasures to school to “show & tell “. Discussion and interaction follow and then the teacher will introduce & develop vocabulary and spelling and personal writing activities from topics arising in news time .
Your lessons for us are just like that, except your news brings to us all the language and beauty & culture of France .
It’s wonderful .
Emilie— You are a very wise woman. Thank you for your insightful commentary.
Laura— Thank you for your excellent report on “La tempete Xynthia”. It is great to read detailed reports of current events in France. I think it’s important for your readers to learn about what is happening right now in France. Thank you so much. My prayers also go out to all those affected by this tragedy.
Hi Laura, minor correction (finally on my area of speciality
). ERDF is the electricity distribution arm of EdF which means they look after the réseau (network) up to medium voltage (33kV) – ie they provide the physical connection for the vast majority of customers. There is also RTE (Réseau de Transport d’Electricité) which looks after the higher voltages of the network (66kV and above) as well as the overall system operation. The company rounds out with EdF generation (les centrales) and a retailing arm. All supposedly segregated 