France Link

Hurricane-force winds close channel port of Calais

The French cross-channel ferry port was forced to close temporarily after winds of up to 160kph made the crossing to the UK treacherous.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

To support Mediapart subscribe

Storm winds gusting up to 160 kilometres (100 miles) per hour on Saturday forced the temporary closure of France's port of Calais on the English Channel and the suspension of car ferries to and from Britain officials said, reports AFP.

Ferry and port traffic was halted for just under two hours, with normal operations resuming at 0900 GMT, according to the harbour master's office.

Officials stopped traffic around 7.10 GMT after a car ferry exiting the port was forced to turn back because the high winds prevented it from being able to safely cross the channel.

Gusts were still reaching 90 kilometres per hour by mid-day, though the storm was expected to weaken.

Read more of this report from AFP published by Yahoo News.