Storm cuts power lines and fells trees in southern coastal areas

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The winter storm that raged on the southern coast of Finland at the end of last week started to abate towards Saturday evening. However, the Finnish Meteorological Institute forecast that the winds would rise again on the night between Saturday and Sunday.
      On Saturday, the highest winds recorded reached a speed of as much as 24 metres per second on Korpo’s island of Utö and on Hanko’s Russarö.
      According to Natalia Pimenoff, the meteorologist on duty, the gusts of wind had probably reached even higher speeds.
      Because of sleet the road conditions in most parts of the country were bad.
      The high winds caused power cuts across Finland. According to Jörgen Dahlqvist from the energy supplier Fortum, around 4,000 to 5,000 households were left without electricity on Saturday.
      ”The situation was at its worst at noon when the number of households simultaneously without electricity was some 2,500”, reported Dahlqvist.
      The majority of power cuts occured in the southern and southwestern archipelago as well as in coastal areas, lasting for a few hours.
     
In the inland areas the day was ”almost normal”, said Dahlqvist. The largest failures were recorded in Somero and Lohja in Southern Finland and in Iso-Syöte, about 140 km from Oulu, as well as in Kuusamo in the eastern part of the country.
      Helsinki and the province of Uusimaa got off relatively lightly, as there the storm just felled trees and tore tarpaulins and roofing sheets.
      However, in Espoo’s district of Tapiola a tree narrowly missed falling on a car that was waiting at traffic lights. A branch of the tree damaged the car slightly, while a man and a child inside the car escaped with a fright.
     
Because of the rough sea, some high-speed ferry services between Helsinki and Tallinn were cancelled and the vessels remained in port.
      Nordic Jet Line cancelled all Saturday services, while on Sunday just the departure from Tallinn at 10.15 a.m. and another from Helsinki at 12.25 p.m. were cancelled.
      The Finnish Meteorological Institute forecast that while gale-force winds would abate on Sunday afternoon, strong winds would continue to blow on the coasts of the Finnish Gulf and the Northern Baltic Sea still on the night between Sunday and Monday.
      On Sunday morning, sleet and snow were still expected to fall, while dry weather was anticipated through the rest of the day.
     
Helsinki remains obstinately green: the snow that fell last week lasted only a day or two before it was washed away by rain and steady above-zero temperatures.
      There are signs, however, that slightly colder conditions may be in store, with the daytime temperature dropping below zero around the middle of the week.
      Even so, thus far the winter in Southern Finland has been almost perversely mild and damp.
      Ski resorts in the south of the country are suffering, along with sports retailers, and those who enjoy ice-fishing have found their hobby a perilous one: twelve people have drowned (mostly skiers and fishermen) after falling through thin ice this month alone, and a good many ice-fishing competitions have had to be called off.


Links:
  Finnish Meteorological Institute

Helsingin Sanomat