Storm devastates Seniava cemetery in Kaunas with uprooted trees and shattered headstones

A powerful storm tore through Kaunas’ Seniava cemetery over the weekend, uprooting trees and smashing headstones, local authorities reported Monday.

Kaunas municipality confirmed the damage in a social media statement, noting that high winds toppled trees, shattered monuments, and blocked pathways. Cleanup efforts are underway, with crews working to restore access ahead of Father’s Day—a traditional time for visiting graves.

“We understand many planned to visit loved ones’ graves, so we ask for patience and caution while moving through the cemetery,” the municipality wrote.

Witnesses described scenes of destruction, with heavy stone slabs displaced and century-old trees uprooted. “It looked like a storm-ravaged forest, not a cemetery,” one resident told Kauno diena. “Trees I’ve known since childhood now lie uprooted, roots pointing skyward. It’s heartbreaking.”

The storm was one of four tornadoes recorded in Lithuania on Friday, according to the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service. The strongest—classified as IF2 (equivalent to F2 on the older scale)—struck Kaunas’ Aleksotas district at 8:24 p.m., with winds reaching 60 m/s. Its 200-meter-wide path stretched 2.8 km, devastating the cemetery and damaging nearby streets.

Earlier tornadoes hit Panevėžys, Kazlų Rūda (where winds reached 50 m/s, tearing roofs and felling trees in Antanavas Manor Park), and Kupiškis, though no major damage was reported in those areas.

Meteorologists attributed the outbreaks to a collision of air masses along a wavy atmospheric front.