Getting through a storm with a baby is mostly about preparing before the wind arrives. In an amber warning, you cut back on journeys and get ready to cope without electricity. In a red warning, you stay at home with doors and shutters closed. The two risks specific to little ones are the cold if the power goes off and carbon monoxide from makeshift heating.
This guide brings together the official advice from Météo-France (the French national weather service) and the préfectures (local state authorities), and translates it for a family with a newborn or a child under 3.
Understanding weather warnings before a storm
Météo-France’s warning map uses four colours. Santé.fr, the official French public health website, sums them up like this:
- Green: no particular weather events.
- Yellow: weather that is usual for the region, but occasionally and locally dangerous.
- Amber (orange on the map): dangerous weather is expected.
- Red: dangerous weather of exceptional intensity is expected.
In amber and red, advice on what to do is published for each type of weather. According to the major risks file for the Haut-Rhin département, it counts as a storm when the wind exceeds 100 km/h inland and 120 km/h on the coast.
The best habit is to check the map the evening before, especially in autumn and winter. A forecast storm usually leaves enough time to get organised.
Before the storm: preparing the home and your baby’s essentials
The official advice is to bring in anything that could blow away, close doors and shutters and cancel any trips to the woods. With a baby, add a few checks.
- Something to feed your baby without a kitchen: bottled water suitable for making up feeds, formula milk as powder or in ready-to-feed cartons, jars of baby food if your child has started solids.
- Something for light: torches and batteries rather than candles.
- Something to stay warm: a sleeping bag suited to the season, a hat for daytime, clothes that can be layered.
- Nappies and wipes for a few days.
- Usual medicines and the prescription, plus a medical thermometer.
- Charged phones and a battery radio to follow the latest advice.
The full list, designed to last 72 hours, is in our article on the baby emergency kit. Ideally, have it ready before winter, so you’re not dashing round the shops the evening before a warning.
Rethinking the next day’s journeys
Météo-France advises cutting back on journeys from an amber wind warning onwards. If you can, move a non-urgent appointment, arrange childcare at home or let the nursery know. A pushchair is hard to hold on to in strong wind, and falling branches or roof tiles are the main danger in towns.
Storm with a baby: what to do during the warning
In a red warning, Météo-France gives four instructions: close doors, windows and shutters, don’t use your car, stay at home and keep up to date with information from the authorities. In amber, the advice is to protect your home, limit journeys, watch out for falling trees and objects and not to climb onto roofs.
With a little one, a few simple precautions come on top of that.
- Settle your baby away from windows, in an inner room if possible, especially for naps and at night.
- Don’t go out for a walk, even a short one, while the wind is blowing.
- Keep to the usual routine: meals, a bath if the hot water is working, the bedtime ritual.
- Keep informed through the radio or official websites, without leaving screens on non-stop in front of your child.
Reassuring a little one during a storm
The roar of the wind, banging shutters and the half-light can unsettle a baby. Your calm matters more than anything: your baby reads on your face whether things are serious. Talk in a steady voice, name what they can hear, offer their comforter and a floor activity by the light of a torch. For an older child, our article on children’s fear of the dark has useful ideas for a power cut.
Power cut: keeping your baby warm safely
A power cut is the most common consequence of a storm for a family. It raises two questions: warmth and preparing meals.
The cold
Close the doors of rooms you’re not using and gather the family in a single room. Dress your baby in thin layers rather than one thick garment. At night, the sleeping bag is still the rule: no duvet or blanket in a baby’s cot, even if it’s chillier. Our article on dressing your baby in cold weather explains how to get it right.
The carbon monoxide trap
This is the real danger during power cuts. The département’s risks file is clear: a generator must never be run inside a building, because of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Météo-France asks for it to be set up outside the house.
The same logic applies to makeshift heating. A barbecue, a fire pit or an outdoor heater must never be used in a closed room. A fuel-burning portable heater needs a ventilated room and an appliance designed for indoor use. Carbon monoxide is invisible and odourless, and young children are particularly vulnerable to it. Our article on carbon monoxide and babies covers the signs of poisoning and the official figures.
If you have a stove or an open fire, it may become your main source of heat during the power cut. The usual safety rules then apply more than ever: fireguard, ventilation, a recently swept chimney. They are set out in our article on wood-burning stoves and babies.
Bottles and meals
Without electricity, you can’t heat water or sterilise. Formula can be given at room temperature, made up at feed time with suitable bottled water. Ready-to-feed cartons make everything simpler. If your baby is breastfed, nothing changes: it’s the simplest way to feed in an emergency.
Should you leave home with a baby during a storm?
No, unless the authorities order an evacuation. In a red wind warning, the instruction is to stay at home and not take the car. Roads become dangerous because of trees and flying debris. On the coast, a “waves and coastal flooding” warning may also be issued. Météo-France then asks people to move away from coasts and estuaries, and to evacuate only when ordered to by the authorities, taking their emergency kit with them.
If your child has a medical emergency, call the French emergency number 15 rather than driving yourself. The emergency services know the state of the roads and will decide on the safest way to help.
After the storm: precautions with a little one
The danger doesn’t disappear with the wind. The official advice is not to touch fallen power lines and to cut back branches that are at risk of falling. With a child:
- Wait for the warning to end before the first outing with the pushchair.
- Avoid parks, woods and tree-lined streets for a few days.
- Check the garden before letting a child play there: nails, tiles, glass, branches.
- Check the freezer and fridge after a long power cut, especially stored breast milk and opened jars of baby food.
Storms often come at the same time as winter viruses. Our article on the first winter with a baby gathers the season’s other key points.
Key takeaways
- Check the warning map the evening before and get your baby’s essentials ready in advance.
- In amber, limit journeys; in red, stay at home with doors and shutters closed.
- Settle your baby away from windows and keep their routines.
- During a power cut, never use a generator or makeshift heating indoors.
- After the storm, wait until streets and parks have been cleared before going out.
Sources
- Météo-France, “Vigilance : conséquences et conseils”, wind and waves-flooding warnings, accessed on 8 November 2026.
- Santé.fr, “Qu'est-ce que la vigilance météorologique ?”, published on 23 July 2025, updated on 6 July 2026.
- Préfecture du Haut-Rhin, dossier départemental des risques majeurs (département major risks file), storm risk, edition of 12 July 2023.
