Storm leaves 31,000 customers without power in Latvia

About 31,000 customers in Latvia remained without electricity on Tuesday morning after the weekend storm, LSM reported, citing information compiled by Sadales tīkls, the electricity distribution operator.

By 6 a.m. on August 25, power had been restored to more than 250,000 customers, or over 90% of those affected by storm-related outages. Sadales tīkls said it had repaired 700 faults in the distribution network, while work continued at an increased pace.

The operator is using drones to inspect damaged power lines and identify faults more quickly. More than 200 Sadales tīkls crews are working across Latvia, together with crews from Estonia’s Elektrilevi distribution system operator.

The largest remaining outages were reported in Ogre and Ogre municipality, as well as Aizkraukle, Preiļi, Rēzekne, Jēkabpils and Bauska municipalities. Power was restored in the city of Preiļi and to about half of customers in Preiļi municipality on Monday evening after damage to the transmission network was repaired.

Crews are continuing to inspect damaged lines and carry out repairs. Large trees have fallen onto wires, while other damage includes torn cables and broken power-line poles. The speed of restoration depends on the number and complexity of faults and the size of the area being inspected.

The storm that hit Latvia overnight on August 23 was the strongest summer storm recorded in the country since at least 1966, according to information from the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre. One person died when a building under construction collapsed in Jelgava, and several people were injured by falling trees and branches. Two firefighter rescuers were also injured during rescue operations.