Stormy weather hits France and Spain

A deep area of low pressure has brought some very stormy weather to the Atlantic coastline of France and Spain. The worst affected areas were from Brittany southwards around the Bay of Biscay to northern Portugal. Winds gusting in excess of 125km an hour produced huge waves.

In France, scores of people were evacuated from flood-prone areas along the coast, and the storm resulted in more than 400,000 homes being left without power.

It was a similar picture along the north coast of Spain and Portugal, where strong winds, blowing over a long fetch, produced mountainous waves.