Storm kills man in Anykščiai district as he may have been fishing

A man was killed when a tree fell on him during a storm in Anykščiai district on Saturday evening, LRT reported, citing police and the ELTA news agency. Initial findings suggest he may have been preparing to fish.

“The man may have been fishing, judging by some of the items found. It is not yet known whether he had already started fishing or had only put his belongings down,” Asta Šuminienė, head of the communications unit at the Utena County Chief Police Commissariat, told ELTA on Monday.

She said the man was standing on a pier when the tree fell and trapped him. He was a resident of Panevėžys, and his neighbours alerted emergency services.

Police previously said a fallen tree had been found in a body of water in Mažionys village, in the Troškūnai eldership. The body of a man born in 1966 was found trapped beneath it. A pre-trial investigation is under way to determine the cause of death.

The Anykščiai district municipality had warned of strong winds and rain on Friday after sharing forecasters’ warning on Facebook.

The district was badly affected by the storm. More than 10,000 households temporarily lost power, while water supply and wastewater treatment facilities stopped operating in parts of the district because of electricity disruptions. Mobile communications were also affected, making it difficult for the municipality to contact eldership heads and administrative staff.

Firefighters and rescuers across Lithuania responded to 2,525 calls over the weekend to remove fallen trees. The highest numbers were recorded in Kaunas County, with 659 calls, followed by Vilnius County with 387 and Utena County with 330.

The storm that struck on Saturday killed one person and injured four others. More than 268,000 residents lost power. According to the latest data from ESO, more than 100,000 customers still had no electricity, mainly in the Kaunas, Utena, Panevėžys and Vilnius regions.

Farmers were assessing storm damage, trains were delayed and mobile communications remained disrupted in some places.