Storm leaves 219,000 without power and disrupts trains

A storm that swept across Lithuania on Saturday left 219,000 residents without electricity on Sunday morning, while some trains faced delays of up to an hour, LRT reported.

Firefighters had received more than 1,800 calls related to the storm’s aftermath by late Saturday evening, and the number of calls continued to rise on Sunday.

Rasa Juodkienė, a representative of Energy Distribution Operator, or ESO, said the damage to the electricity network was unprecedented in recent decades.

“In terms of damage to the network, this is a catastrophic situation,” Juodkienė told LRT Radio.

She said the number of faults requiring work had reached 3,000, far exceeding the impact of the previous storm. The worst-affected regions were Utena, where about 54,000 customers were without electricity, Panevėžys with about 33,000, and Vilnius District and surrounding areas with about 30,000.

There were also around 18,000 customers without electricity in the Alytus region, 14,000 in the Šiauliai region and 13,000 in the Klaipėda region, which sustained the least damage among the areas listed.

ESO workers were unable to carry out all repairs on Saturday because of strong, gusty winds. After the winds subsided at around 10 p.m., crews began travelling to their workplaces. More than 600 people were working at affected locations on Sunday, and ESO was seeking additional staff.

Juodkienė said electricity could be restored to all customers within a week, although not everyone would regain service quickly.

Lithuanian Railways said storm damage could cause delays of up to an hour on Sunday. Passengers on six trains travelling on the Vilnius Kaunas Vilnius, Vilnius Klaipėda Vilnius, Vilnius Mockava Vilnius and Vilnius Riga Vilnius routes were expected to be affected.

Firefighters continue clearing storm damage

Jolita Orentaitė, a representative of the Fire and Rescue Department, said the previous 24 hours had been the busiest period for dealing with storm damage in the past two decades.

Firefighters had responded to more than 1,800 storm-related calls from Saturday afternoon through Sunday, Orentaitė told LRT Radio. The number of calls had increased since 7 a.m. on Sunday, despite weather conditions having stabilised.

Most calls involved trees that had fallen onto roads. Firefighters also removed trees that had fallen on cars, buildings and electricity infrastructure.

Crews were dispatched across the country on Saturday, with the largest number of calls recorded in Kaunas County, where there were about 500.

A person was killed in Anykščiai District on Saturday afternoon after a tree fell on them in strong winds. Orentaitė said the person had been fishing by their pond when the tree fell.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius was due to convene a remote interinstitutional meeting on Sunday to discuss the response to the storm’s aftermath.