Report confirms that storms in summer 2010 caused unprecedented havoc

One death, dozens of injuries, half a million people without electricity - officials were left totally flabbergasted

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By Heli Saavalainen
     
      As anyone who was here will attest, the sweltering summer of 2010 ended in a most dramatic manner, when four consecutive storms swept across Finland, causing exceptionally massive destruction.
      Trees came down in swathes in large areas of forests, up to half a million Finns were left without electricity, phones were struck dumb, one person died and dozens were injured, water supplies and sewage plants were disrupted...
      Finland does not normally get knocked out of kilter by the weather, leastways not unless things get snarled up by a big winter blizzard, but this time we took a big hit.
     
The officials were totally flabbergasted amid all the destruction, not knowing how they should act.
      Communication was unreliable and inconsistent, and managerial problems occurred. Cooperation between various authorities stuttered.
      According to a report on the storms of July-August 2010, published by the Accident Investigation Board of Finland, Finland has rarely been affected by weather phenomena causing significant and widespread damage (rather than inconvenience in the form of late or cancelled trains).
      This largely explains why various actors did not have operating models in place enabling them to respond to severe weather warnings that were issued.
     
The storms came as a big surprise, as regardless of the alarming weather developments reported by the Finnish Meteorologigal Institute (FMI), the media and the population focused their attention on record-high temperatures in some kind of summer feeding-frenzy.
      At the end of July, just after a new record-high temperature of 37.2°C (99.0°F) had been set and celebrated, the Asta storm struck and strong downbursts moved quickly from Southeastern Finland to the western coast.
     
This weather phenomenon was characterised by high winds, rain and, in some places, hail as well as violent thunderstorms.
      Asta was a tropical downburst cluster - nothing like that had ever been seen before in Europe.
      Only after Asta did the authorities become aware of the fact that weather phenomena can cause considerable physical damage even in Finland.
      The severe weather warnings the FMI had issued had somehow not stood out from the normal weather forecasts. Moreover, the information about the warnings had not reached all key people, and various actors did not react to the warnings, even though the bulletins predicted that the storm would be in the second highest risk-category after a full-blown hurricane.
     
Measures were only taken in the wake of the damage caused by the Asta storm, which was responsible for the major part of all distruction in the aftermath of the summer heatwave of July 2010.
      The storms Asta, Veera, Lahja, and Sylvi were exceptional in many ways.
      They swept across a wide area of Finland, but lasted only a few dozens of minutes in each location.
      The downburst arrived so quickly that only a matter of twenty seconds or so were available to react or seek cover.
     
The destruction was complete in many places: timber came crashing down in abundance, roads were blocked, railways and buildings were damaged.
      The financial extent of the damage ran to more than EUR 100 million.
      A total of around 35,000 kilometres of electric power network were destroyed or damaged, complicating the everyday lives of about 480,000 citizens.
      The longest individual power cuts lasted around six weeks.
     
Extensive cooperation between the authorities would have been a prerequisite for successful rescue service operations during the storms.
      It did not work.
      ”The events disclosed the fact that the Finnish rescue departments do not have readiness for the management of rescue operations in extensive accidents”, says Director Veli-Pekka Nurmi of the Accident Investigation Board of Finland.
      ”However, one can always learn from unfortunate events, and it is possible to develop preparedness for serious natural disasters”, Nurmi adds.
     
In its report, the Accident Investigation Board of Finland issues recommendations to improve safety.
      They concern the preparedness of electricity network companies, telecommunications companies and water supply and sewage plants, the reliability of electric power networks, procedures at emergency response centres in backlog situations, and communications during accidents.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 28.9.2011


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Affected areas still struggling in aftermath of last week´s major storm (4.8.2010)
  Intense storms hit Helsinki area and Pori (9.8.2010)
  Third storm threatens to sweep through Finland next week (6.8.2010)
  Freak storm wreaks havoc at campground in Central Finland on Wednesday afternoon; three injured (5.8.2010)

See also:
  Thousands in rural areas of Eastern Finland still without electricity after Friday storm (2.8.2010)

Links:
  Accident Investigation Board of Finland: The Storms of July-August 2010

HELI SAAVALAINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
heli.saavalainen@hs.fi