Storm Nils swept across southern France on Thursday, unleashing high winds and heavy rainfall that uprooted trees, flooded roads, and plunged hundreds of thousands of homes into darkness. According to France’s electricity distribution operator Enedis, around 450,000 households remained without power on Friday morning.

The storm caused significant chaos across southern France, northern Spain, and parts of Portugal, forcing the cancellation of flights, trains, and ferry services, while road traffic was severely disrupted. French officials confirmed that a truck driver was killed after a tree smashed through his windscreen, while dozens of people were injured in weather-related incidents in Spain. In Portugal, a viaduct reportedly partially collapsed due to flooding.

French forecasters described Storm Nils as “unusually strong.” Enedis said it had mobilised nearly 3,000 technicians to restore electricity supplies. By around 6:00 am (0500 GMT) on Friday, the company announced that power had been restored to about 50 percent of the 900,000 customers initially affected by outages.

“Flooding complicates repairs because the fields are waterlogged and some roads are blocked,” said Enedis crisis director Hervé Champenois during a press briefing. Repair teams continue to face difficult conditions as waterlogged terrain hampers access to damaged infrastructure.

Residents across southern France expressed shock at the storm’s ferocity. In Perpignan, a florist said she narrowly escaped injury when a tree almost fell on her car. Similar scenes were reported in villages near Bordeaux, where residents described hearing roof tiles lifting and rubbish bins rolling through streets overnight.