Strong winds topple trees and power lines, leaving 40,000 without electricity

Over 40,000 power supply disruptions were recorded across Lithuania this weekend as strong winds downed trees, damaged infrastructure, and disrupted electricity networks, the country’s power distribution operator reported Monday.

Rasa Juodkienė, a representative of the Electrical Distribution Operator (ESO), told the LRT that outages began surging on Sunday afternoon, with more than 40,000 households affected. Most interruptions lasted under three minutes due to automated system recovery, though around 300 customers remained without power as of Monday morning.

Meteorological data showed wind gusts reaching 15–18 meters per second in many regions on Saturday evening, peaking at 21–22 m/s in Šilutė and Ventė. On Sunday, winds strengthened further, with speeds of 15–19 m/s across much of the country and isolated gusts up to 23 m/s.

Firefighters responded to 93 calls to clear fallen trees blocking roads, primarily in Tauragė County (19 incidents), followed by Alytus (13), Šiauliai (10), Vilnius, and Panevėžys (9 each), according to Sonata Kukienė of the Fire Protection and Rescue Department. The figures exclude downed power poles, signage, and other structures.

Incidents included a fallen tree in Šilutė District that severed power lines and blocked a road in Domaičiai village. In Kaunas, a collapsing tree damaged a car in a residential courtyard on Prancūzų Street. Three large trees fell across a road in Pagramdinė village, Prienai District, while in Mozūriškiai, Kaunas District, a power pole toppled onto a car, cutting electrical wires.

In Prienai District, firefighters en route to extinguish a grass fire were delayed by a tree blocking their path, forcing them to remove it manually. Similar incidents were reported in Šakiai District, where a tree crushed a Volvo car in Paluobiai village, and in Jurbarkas, where another vehicle was damaged on Dariaus ir Girėno Street. In Veliuona, three trees in a park posed a hazard after one was uprooted and two others leaned precariously over a road.