Storm damage triggers emergency declarations in two Lithuanian districts

Emergency situations were declared in the Biržai and Telšiai districts on Tuesday after damage caused by a storm over the weekend, LRT reported, citing BNS.

Biržai District Mayor Kęstutis Knizikevičius said the municipal emergency operations centre had decided to declare the emergency situation on Monday, and he signed the order on Tuesday.

About 1,200 electricity consumers in the district were still without power on Tuesday, compared with around 5,000 over the weekend. The largest settlements also lacked running water. The municipality is using generators and plans to deliver water tanks, while local administrative offices are being opened so residents can charge phones, tablets and computers.

There are no longer any impassable roads or isolated locations in the district, the mayor said. He identified damaged and severed electricity lines as the main problem, noting that some faults on high-voltage lines were on the Latvian side of the border. Knizikevičius said he had asked the government to send soldiers to help remove dangerous trees and clear electricity lines.

Telšiai District Mayor Tomas Katkus said the emergency situation there was declared because heavy rainfall had flooded fields, drainage channels and some streets. The declaration allows the municipality to use the mayor’s reserve to deal with the storm damage.

Katkus also said farmers could be released from production commitments if they failed to meet them because of the emergency situation. He said the damage had not yet been assessed but would not amount to millions of euros.

On Monday, emergency situations were also declared in the Kazlų Rūda and Anykščiai municipalities. The government has so far decided not to declare an emergency situation across the country.

The weekend storm killed one person, injured four others and disrupted electricity supplies to more than 268,000 consumers. Around 70,000 consumers were still without electricity at the time of the report.