Aizkraukle homestead goes seven days without electricity

A rural homestead in Aizkraukle municipality has been without electricity for seven days, but its residents say they have managed with a wood-burning stove, well water and a generator, LSM reported.

At the Lakstīgalas homestead, the electricity meter has not been turning for a week. The wires on the property are intact, but trees have fallen across the road about 300 metres away. Several poles are still leaning and the power lines have sagged almost to the ground.

Homestead owner Aldis Lejnieks said the electricity distribution company Sadales tīkli had been unable to say when the damage would be repaired.

“From time to time, we receive a message saying that people are working. The scale is large, so it is understandable,” Lejnieks said.

The storm felled a large cherry tree and broke linden trees, but the flag and flagpole withstood the weather. Lightning had struck the large linden tree in the yard earlier, and Lejnieks said it had protected the house. This time, its large branches fell without causing damage.

“An arborist will apparently have to be called, and the linden will need treatment. Half of it is dead. It was impossible to drive into the yard. On the second day, we had to organise a communal work effort. The children came to help. We are alive, so there is no reason to complain,” Lejnieks said.

Without electricity, the residents have been doing tasks that had previously lacked time, including splitting firewood, installing shelves and tidying the barn.

Lejnieks said the storm had brought strong winds but, fortunately, not the daily hardships faced by people in Ukraine, where residents can be without electricity, water and other conveniences. He has travelled to Ukraine several times in aid convoys, as has his partner, Vaira.

A wood-burning stove is essential in the countryside, Lejnieks said. When the power went out, the household cooked and baked all its frozen food so it would not have to be thrown away or fed to the chickens. Frozen berries were made into jam, while other food is being stored in a century-old cool cellar.

The residents draw water from a well because water cannot be pumped from the borehole without electricity. Friends brought them a generator, which they use to charge several portable batteries and maintain communications.

“We can watch the news and the evening Panorāma programme, and charge our phones. We have internet,” Lejnieks said.

The homestead had no communications for the first three days after the storm, but the residents said staying connected was the most important thing in such circumstances.