Storm cuts power and mobile service in Preiļi municipality

Preiļi municipality has been without electricity for a third day in many areas, while mobile communications disappeared completely overnight, LSM reported Monday. The outages have made it harder to communicate with residents of parishes and isolated homesteads and to provide essential services.

Dozens of people gathered at the Preiļi municipality council building, one of four charging points where residents can recharge phones, power banks and other devices. The building is the only communications tower in Preiļi, but its mobile service also failed overnight.

The charging points have operated since Sunday, when residents began arriving to use the available power. The council turned on a generator and invited people to charge their devices between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

In the parishes, residents can charge devices at water supply stations. Water services are operating across almost the entire municipality, except in Silajāņi Parish, while critical infrastructure is running on generators.

In Aglona Parish, where there is neither electricity nor mobile service, residents are receiving current information through loudspeakers on police vehicles.

The municipality’s kindergartens are closed. The social service and parish administrators are identifying isolated seniors and people living in homesteads. The municipality has received additional generators and is urging residents to conserve fuel and help neighbours obtain food and other necessities.