Bad weather causes more than a hundred minor accidents in Southern Finland

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Bad visibility and slushy roads caused about a hundred fender-benders and left numerous cars stranded in ditches in the Helsinki area and elsewhere in Southern Finland on Tuesday. Some people were taken to hospital for first aid, but no serious injuries were reported in the capital area. In Western Finland one road accident fatality was reported.
      Because of the snow, there were also serious delays to rail and air traffic, and road traffic floundered badly across Southern Finland as a whole.
     
In the city of Vantaa alone some 30 collisions occurred yesterday. In the afternoon two people were injured in a crash involving two cars, both of which which were wrecked beyond repair.
      In Lohja, dreadful road conditions combined with a strong side wind caused a bus to topple over. One person was treated for minor injuries.
     
Tuesday's most serious accident took place in the town of Huittinen in Western Finland, where one person died when a car was crushed by a lorry. On Highway 2 in Ulvila, a driver sustained serious injuries when his car hit a trailer truck trailer swerving out of control.
      Of the main arteries of the capital area the outer ring road "Kehä III" was the most severely affected by the bad weather. During the course of the day it was covered with sleet and slush almost for its entire length.
      No major accidents were reported, but traffic was extremely sluggish, though snow ploughs and salt were used in an attempt to get rid of the thick layer of slush.
     
The heavy goods traffic was particularly badly hit by the weather. Trucks got stuck on slippery uphill sections throughout the capital area, and elsewhere in Southern Finland at least 20 trucks needed assistance in freeing them from the sludge.
      In the Tampere area, which received 20 centimetres of snow yesterday, trucks stuck in the slush also complicated the flow of traffic.
      With 30 millimetres of rain, the city of Hanko set a new precipitation record for one day in the Province of Uusimaa. Had the temperature been slightly lower, this would have translated to 30 centimetres of snow.
     
The heavy fall of wet snow also caused problems with the distribution of electricity to thousands of households in different parts of Southern Finland.
      In Helsinki, some of the traffic lights had to be switched off because of the rain, and this further hampered the already foul traffic conditions.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Blizzard and awful road conditions forecast for Southern Finland (31.10.2006)

Links:
  Video: The Vantaankoski railway station received some snow on Tuesday morning, while central Helsinki experienced icy rain.
  Finnish Road Administration road cameras in Southern Finland. Click on any of the camera links for real-time images of traffic conditions.
  Finnish Meteorological Institute

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