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.
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 on Sunday.
Just 18,000 homes were without electricity in France, primarily in New Aquitaine, said Enedis, the company that manages France’s electricity network. Around 8:00 am CET on Sunday, there were 95,000 homes without electricity.
On Corsica, 3,500 homes were also cut off Sunday night, according to EDF.SPONSORED CONTENTBellini’s Pirata: a tale of love, betrayal and madnessBellini’s Pirata: a tale of love, betrayal and madnessMusica, in partnership with Rolex
“By Christmas, all the homes will [have electricity] restored,” said Minister of Ecological Transition Elisabeth Borne from the crisis cell of Enedis on Sunday. Borne said she was at the crisis cell to pay homage to the agents working to restore electricity.
Trains were cancelled in Portugal due to flooding over the weekend, Lusa reported. Days of rain in Italy also lead to heavy flooding in the country.