Storm leaves nearly 220,000 electricity users without power in Lithuania

Lithuania’s situation remains tense after a storm swept across the country, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said on Sunday, according to LRT. One person was killed and three were injured, while electricity supplies remained disrupted for nearly 220,000 users.

“Unfortunately, the situation in the country is still tense. Unfortunately, we also have one person who has died, and we would like to express our condolences to their family and relatives. We also have three injured people,” Sinkevičius told journalists after a cross-agency meeting on dealing with the storm’s aftermath.

He said the electricity supply situation was particularly complicated. Nearly 3,000 faults had been recorded nationwide by Sunday morning, leaving almost 220,000 users without power. The storm caused the most damage in the Kaunas region.

Rasa Juodkienė, a representative of ESO, Lithuania’s electricity distribution operator, said the damage to the power network was unprecedented in recent decades.

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

About 54,000 customers were without electricity in the Utena region, 33,000 in the Panevėžys region, around 30,000 in Vilnius District and surrounding areas, 18,000 in the Alytus region, and 14,000 in the Šiauliai region. The Klaipėda region was the least affected, with about 13,000 customers without electricity.

ESO workers were unable to carry out all repairs on Saturday because of strong, gusty winds. After the wind eased at about 10 p.m., teams began travelling to their workplaces. More than 600 people are now working at the affected sites, and the operator is seeking additional staff.

Juodkienė said restoring electricity to all users could take up to a week because of the number of repair locations and the extent of the network damage.

Some trains may be delayed by up to an hour on Sunday because of the storm and its consequences, Lithuanian Railways said. Passengers on six trains operating on the Vilnius Kaunas Vilnius, Vilnius Klaipėda Vilnius, Vilnius Mockava Vilnius and Vilnius Riga Vilnius routes are expected to be affected.

Fire and rescue services had received more than 1,800 calls related to the storm’s aftermath by late Saturday, and the number continued to rise on Sunday. Jolita Orentaitė, a representative of the Fire and Rescue Department, said the previous 24-hour period had been the busiest for storm response work in the past two decades.