French Power Networks and Transport Lines Hit by High Winds

Pylons of high-tension electricity power lines are seen in Avesnes-le-Sec, near Cambrai, France, January 8, 2021. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
Pylons of high-tension electricity power lines are seen in Avesnes-le-Sec, near Cambrai, France, January 8, 2021. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
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French Power Networks and Transport Lines Hit by High Winds

Pylons of high-tension electricity power lines are seen in Avesnes-le-Sec, near Cambrai, France, January 8, 2021. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
Pylons of high-tension electricity power lines are seen in Avesnes-le-Sec, near Cambrai, France, January 8, 2021. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

Two hundred and fifty thousand homes in northern France were deprived of electricity on Thursday after a storm swept through the area, with wind gusts of up to 175 km/h measured in Normandy, while Paris train routes were also disrupted.

Train operator SNCF said on Thursday that traffic would be suspended until 08h00 GMT in Normandy due to the damages caused by the storm on the railway network.

Railway traffic was also disrupted north of Paris due to numerous trees that had fallen onto the tracks, added the SNCF.

According to Meteo France, the national weather service, wind gusts of 153 km/h were measured on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Reuters reported.



Magnitude 5.5 Earthquake Strikes China Near Source of Yellow River

A lake is seen near the headwaters of the Yellow River in Madoi county, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province, China August 31, 2019. (Reuters)
A lake is seen near the headwaters of the Yellow River in Madoi county, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province, China August 31, 2019. (Reuters)
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Magnitude 5.5 Earthquake Strikes China Near Source of Yellow River

A lake is seen near the headwaters of the Yellow River in Madoi county, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province, China August 31, 2019. (Reuters)
A lake is seen near the headwaters of the Yellow River in Madoi county, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province, China August 31, 2019. (Reuters)

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake shook parts of the Chinese province of Qinghai on Wednesday, with its epicenter located near the source of the Yellow River, the main natural waterway serving northern China.

The vast Qinghai-Tibetan plateau has been jolted by seismic activity since Tuesday, including a deadly 6.8-magnitude quake in the foothills of the Himalayas in Tibet and a smaller 3.1-magnitude quake in Sichuan.

The epicenter of the Qinghai quake, which struck at 3:44 p.m. (0844 GMT), was located in Madoi county in the Golog prefecture at a depth of 14 km (8.7 miles), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

It was about 200 km west of the county seat of Madoi, a town populated mainly by Tibetans, including former nomadic herders and their families who have resettled in government-built homes over the years.

Earthquakes are common along the edges of the seismically active Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, including Madoi.

A total of 102 quakes of magnitude 3 or higher have been logged within 200 km of Wednesday's quake over the past five years, according to CENC, with the largest reaching a magnitude of 7.4 in 2021.

The epicenter of Qinghai quake on Wednesday is about 1,000 km northeast of the quake in Tibet a day earlier.