Storm damage leaves Latvia’s power repairs unfinished

Nearly a week after a destructive storm, electricity has been restored to most customers in Latvia, but repairs to the damaged grid will continue next week, LSM reported.

Sadales tīkls, the electricity distribution company, is still carrying out urgent work, particularly in parts of Aizkraukle and Jēkabpils municipalities. The storm uprooted groups of trees in some locations and damaged power lines so severely that repairs will take several days.

Where repairs cannot be completed immediately, generators are being used to maintain electricity supplies.

“It really feels as if, besides the strong wind, a tornado also swept through there,” Sadales tīkls technical director Raimonds Skrebs said. “It is not just individual trees, as we see from time to time across Latvia. There are ten trees at once, and that is the problem, repeatedly and in different places.”

Sadales tīkls said restoring electricity does not mean all storm damage has been repaired. In some places, power lines effectively have to be rebuilt, while elsewhere crews still need to remove trees that have fallen onto the wires and replace damaged poles. The company will therefore continue working in an intensified mode next week.

The storm that struck Latvia overnight on August 23 was the country’s strongest summer storm since at least 1966, when comprehensive observations of wind gusts began. One person was killed when a newly built structure collapsed in Jelgava, while several others were injured by falling trees and branches. Two firefighter-rescuers were also injured during rescue operations.

Electricity supplies were disrupted for approximately 277,000 households on Sunday morning, with some parts of Latvia without power for several days. Traffic lights, shops and petrol stations were closed in many places, and mobile communications were also disrupted.

Authorities said the storm exposed shortcomings that need to be addressed, including communication problems between emergency services. Proposals for improvements are to be prepared by the Crisis Management Centre.