French national weather service, Météo France, on Thursday placed 19 départements on the second-highest weather warning, the orange alert.
Seventeen departments were on alert for strong winds: Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Manche, Seine-Maritime, Vendée, Deux-Sèvres, Charente-Maritime and Charente, Gironde, Landes, and Pyrénées-Atlantiques, as well as Alpes-Maritimes, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales, and the two departments of Corsica.
Meanwhile, Cantal and Corrèze were on the orange alert for flooding, while Seine-Maritime, Gironde, Landes and Pyrénées-Atlantiques were also on alert for swells and flooding.
Storm Benjamin began battering France late Wednesday night, particularly along the coasts of north-western and south-western France.
Heavy winds and rain were expected throughout the day on Thursday, with gusts up to 130km/h along the coast and 90 to 110 km/h inland.
French regional news outlet, France 3 Occitanie, reported that gusts had already reached up to 161km/h in Fécamp in Seine-Maritime.
By early Thursday morning, the Corrèze département had already seen "significant rainfall, exceeding 50/60mm in the last 24 hours and 120 mm in the last 48 hours," Météo France wrote.
In its 6am bulletin on Thursday, Météo France also said gusts of 142km/h had been recorded in Charente-Maritime on the Île de Ré, while winds reached almost 150km/h at the Cap de la Hève near the English Channel.
French interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, announced on X that "emergency services are fully mobilised. I am closely monitoring the situation and urging everyone to be cautious, particularly when travelling, and to follow the authorities' instructions."
The intense weather comes just a few days after a tornado hit the Paris region on Monday, causing one death and multiple injuries.
What about travel disruption?
As of Thursday morning, rail traffic had been disrupted across several coastal French regions.
High-speed TGV trains between La Rochelle and Paris had been cancelled due to the weather. Meanwhile, rail service in Normandy was disrupted "on almost all regional (TER) lines", Franceinfo reported.
In Brittany, rail traffic was also disrupted on the regional TER lines of Brest-Quimper, Brest-Nantes, and Rennes-Nantes. In the Pays de la Loire region, delays and cancellations were also expected during the day on Thursday.
If you are travelling in France on Thursday, be sure to check the status of your train or flight before departure. So far, Eurostar has not reported any issues along its Paris to London route. You can keep track here.
Several beaches were closed in the Gironde, Pas-de-Calais and Somme départements on Thursday. Meanwhile, cities such as Paris, Biarritz and Cannes also closed their green spaces for the day.
The Château of Versailles also noted that the park and gardens would only open from noon.
How long will the storm last?
The wind was expected to begin weakening along France's western coast from Thursday afternoon, with no départements (at the time of writing) listed on the 'orange' alert for Friday.
However, strong winds were expected to continue in south-eastern France on Thursday afternoon, as well as through the night from Thursday to Friday, particularly in Corsica and the PACA region.