Gales bring down power-lines and keep fast Tallinn craft in port

Meteorological Institute issues severe gale warnings in sea areas

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Trees falling on power-lines have caused a number of power outages in Southern Finland on Friday morning, as a violent autumn storm sweeps across the country. The smaller fast ferry connections between Helsinki and Tallinn have also been confined to port by the gale-force winds in the Gulf of Finland.
      The lights went out in several thousand households in Western Uusimaa and in the south-west of the country in the early hours of the morning. The faults concerned the Fortum distribution network. A few outages have also been reported from Ostrobothnia, further up the west coast. Most places had supplies restored by lunchtime.
      In Helsinki, the strong, gusting southerly and south-westerly winds ripped the roof off a block in the Alppila district, and a road in Haaga was blocked by a falling tree. A Christmas tree in the town of Porvoo toppled over, damaging a number of parked cars.
      By 9 a.m. the regional emergency centres had not received word of any injuries caused by the high winds, but the Finnish Meteorological Institute has issued gale warnings for Southern and Central Finland, and in sea areas winds could reach severe-gale or storm force.
     
The ferocity of the wind led to cancellations of departures between Helsinki and Tallinn of the smaller ferries that ply this route. The hydrofoils and other fast connections will remain in port.
      This means interruptions in service of all the Linda Line vessels, Tallink's AutoExpress, and Silja Line's Super SeaCat Four high-speed catamaran.
     
Normally the high-speed ferries cancel departures when the wind-speed reaches around 15 to 16 metres a second (54-58 km/h).
      On Friday morning, the wind recorded at the Harmaja lighthouse off the Helsinki coastline was 18 m/s (65 km/hour), with gusts up to 23 m/s (83km/hour or 50 mph). Even higher readings were noted in Hanko to the west.
      The gale-force winds are unlikely to affect departures of the large ferries, although passengers may find the crossing less than comfortable. There are no reports of disruption to air traffic, and the helicopter link between Helsinki and Tallinn is operating as normal.
      The Western Finland Coastguard Service was investigating a number of drifting boats on Friday morning. The first reports came in in the early morning. All boats will need to be checked out, in case there is anyone aboard and in distress.


Links:
  Meteorological Institute
  Finnish Meteorological Institute: Warnings

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