Residents of Varėna district recount damage after severe storm

Residents of Varėna district in Lithuania are assessing the damage after a severe storm swept through the area, felling trees, damaging cemeteries, and leaving hundreds without power, LRT reports.

In Valkininkai eldership, the storm on Tuesday brought down large pine trees, crushing auxiliary buildings and cutting electricity to over 200 households. Locals described the event as unprecedented, with hail, heavy rain, and winds resembling a hurricane.

“I’ve lived a lifetime and never seen anything like this. The wind was howling, and the hail turned everything white,” one resident recalled. Another compared the scene to a disaster movie: “It was lightning and thunder like never before. We huddled together, and after about half an hour, we saw the aftermath—it was like a horror story.”

The storm also damaged a local cemetery, toppling monuments. Valkininkai eldership head Antanas Juknevičius said authorities would use digital records to locate grave owners and notify them of the damage.

Emergency crews worked through the night to clear fallen trees from roads, including a century-old oak in the town center. Varėna district vice-mayor Alvydas Verbickas estimated around 60 trees had been removed, with more work needed to assist utility services. Some trees were too large for local crews to handle alone, requiring hired operators.

Businesses were also affected. Jūratė Rutkauskienė, owner of a rural tourism homestead, said the storm destroyed gardens and old trees. With no electricity, generators proved insufficient to power industrial kitchen equipment, leaving 25 children at a summer camp facing meals of semi-dry rations.

Meteorologists warned that such extreme weather could become more frequent as the atmosphere warms. Gytis Valaika of the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service explained that the collision of warm and cooler air masses had triggered the powerful storm, with heavy rain, hail, and even tornado-like conditions. Over the past day, Kazlų Rūda recorded the highest rainfall, while more than 4,700 lightning strikes were detected nationwide.