The essentials
Enedis reports 146,000 French households still without power as crews work through the weekend despite difficult access.
At 07:00 on Saturday 24 October, Enedis reported 146,000 households in France without electricity. Normandy has the highest number of households still without power after Storm Austen, according to the reports. Since the storm's peak, 264,000 customers have been reconnected.
Enedis activated its emergency response unit, FIRE, on Thursday, with about 2,000 staff deployed. The utility says repair operations will continue through the weekend of 24 and 25 October. Access to repair sites remains difficult because of fallen trees and branches.
In the Manche department, about 13,500 households were without power at 07:00 on Saturday. In Sarthe, up to 8,500 households lost power at midday on Friday, and about 3,000 remained without power on Saturday morning. The reports do not give timelines for full restoration in each area.
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Repair crews push on through weekend as 264,000 customers reconnect
Since the storm's peak, Enedis reports 264,000 customers reconnected. With about 2,000 staff deployed through its FIRE emergency unit, repair operations are set to continue across the weekend of 24 and 25 October. The utility's figures show reconnection moving forward, even though 146,000 households were still without power at 07:00 on Saturday. The reports do not specify a timeline for each area.
Normandy, Manche and Sarthe households face continuing outages as access stays hard
For households in Normandy, the Manche and Sarthe, restoration depends heavily on local conditions. Normandy has the highest number still without power, while about 13,500 Manche households were out at 07:00 on Saturday and about 3,000 Sarthe households remained without power that morning. Fallen trees and branches continue to make repair sites difficult to reach, which may affect how quickly crews can respond in each area.