Storm Herminia brings heavy rain and powerful winds to Europe

Weather warnings have been issued in parts of Spain, Portugal, France, the UK and Ireland as Storm Herminia batters countries across Europe with strong winds, heavy rain and powerful waves.

The storm was named Friday by Spanish weather authorities, where hurricane-force gusts were recorded.

One person in Ourense reportedly died in a road accident linked to the severe weather, while more than 13,000 people in Galicia were left without electricity on Monday, according to local reports.

In France, eight departments were under orange weather warnings, while the department of Ille-et-Vilaine was under a red warning on Monday.

The capital of the Ille-et-Vilaine department, Rennes, saw its worst flooding in 40 years with local authorities warning that the forecast remained “unfavourable” for the coming hours and days.

Families have been forced to evacuate from Ille-et-Vilaine and the water level is still rising.

Pumps have been pumping water out of some cellars since this morning, but some shopkeepers are at a loss.

“What we’re going to do straight away is to raise the roof again. They’re saying it’s going to rise again, so we’re going to put more breeze blocks up to save the furniture,” says a local resident in Rennes.

But the town is also running out of supplies. “The first supplier has actually run out. Now we have a second supplier who is making breeze blocks available,” explained Philippe Grée, head of green spaces at the town of Guichen Pont-Réan.

Meanwhile in the UK, Devon and Cornwall remain under a yellow weather warning and more than 1,000 properties in the South West are still without power.