Officials coordinate response to Latvia storm damage as 87,000 remain without power

Latvian authorities are coordinating efforts to deal with damage caused by the August 22–23 storm, with about 87,000 households still without electricity on Monday morning, LSM reported.

The Cabinet’s crisis management meeting assessed the storm’s consequences, discussed measures needed to address them and reviewed the further actions required from responsible institutions.

Finance Minister and acting Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis, Crisis Management Centre head Colonel Arvis Zīle and State Fire and Rescue Service chief Mārtiņš Baltmanis were taking part in the press conference. Representatives of the electricity transmission and distribution companies, the Emergency Medical Service and the Health Ministry were also available to answer questions.

The storm was the strongest summer storm to hit Latvia since at least 1966, according to the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre. A person was killed when a building under construction collapsed in Jelgava. Several people were injured by falling trees and branches, while two firefighter-rescuers were injured during rescue work.

At the height of the disruption on Sunday morning, electricity supplies to around 277,000 households were affected. The electricity distribution company Sadales tīkls said the widespread outages involved both distribution networks and the transmission network operated by Augstsprieguma tīkls.

Many traffic lights were not working, while shops and petrol stations were closed in some places. Mobile communications were also disrupted. Very strong winds affected Lithuania as well.