Storm leaves 183,000 Lithuanians without electricity

LRT, citing BNS and ELTA, reports that 183,000 people in Lithuania remained without electricity on Sunday after a storm caused widespread damage to the power network. Restoring the supply could take up to a week.

Energy Minister Lukas Savickas and ESO chief Renaldas Radvila were expected to present the latest assessment of the damage on Sunday afternoon.

One person was killed and three were injured during the storm. Firefighters received more than 1,800 reports about fallen trees and branches, while the Emergency Response Centre handled more than 24,000 calls.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said the situation remained tense, particularly because of the disruption to electricity supplies. He said authorities were working to deal with the consequences as quickly as possible, without limiting time, personnel or financial resources.

The government does not plan to declare a nationwide state of emergency. Sinkevičius also said officials had determined that military assistance was not currently needed.

Kaunas region suffered the most damage

ESO chief Renaldas Radvila said the storm had disrupted electricity supplies across the country, with the greatest damage recorded in the Kaunas region.

“Today we hope to have a preliminary assessment of how long it may take to restore the entire network,” Radvila said. More than 1,000 ESO employees are involved in resolving the disruptions.

ESO representative Rasa Juodkienė earlier told LRT radio that restoration work was expected to continue for about a week.

Radvila said the number of disruptions peaked on Saturday evening, when 268,000 people in Lithuania were without electricity. More than 100 generators were delivered to municipalities on Sunday.

Firefighters received 70 new reports on Sunday

Between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday, firefighters received 70 additional reports of fallen trees and branches.

Saulius Tamulevičius, deputy head of the Fire and Rescue Department, said the Emergency Response Centre received more than 24,000 calls. At the peak of the storm, operators received 14 calls per second, he said, adding that the system handled the flow and answered most of the calls.

From Saturday to Sunday morning, fire and rescue services received more than 1,800 reports about fallen trees and branches. During the night, crews removed the most dangerous trees after assessing working conditions and safety. The volume of work increased again from Sunday morning.

The heaviest workload was recorded in Kaunas County, where 465 reports were registered within 24 hours, accounting for more than a quarter of all such reports in Lithuania. Vilnius County recorded 237 reports, Utena County 217, Alytus County 191, Panevėžys County 151, Šiauliai County 145, Klaipėda County 123, Marijampolė County 117, Tauragė County 96 and Telšiai County 59.

Firefighters removed trees and branches that had fallen onto roads, cars, buildings and electricity infrastructure. Train delays were also expected in some parts of the country on Sunday.