Storm exposes Latvia’s emergency infrastructure gaps

A storm showed how quickly power cuts can disrupt communications, fuel supplies and water services in Latvia, LSM reported. Nearly 90% of fuel stations do not have built-in generators, while the country had no unified minimum requirements for the operation of mobile networks and fuel stations during prolonged power outages.

The data came from the Crisis Management Centre. Following the storm, the government is considering requiring a designated network of fuel stations, shops and pharmacies to remain open during emergencies. It is also considering resilience points and plans to require key communications network facilities to operate for at least 72 hours without external power.

One critical fuel station in Jēkabpils, which is supposed to provide fuel to emergency services, also failed to operate.

Jēkabpils residents criticise communication

Jēkabpils resident Iveta Ševkoviča had drinking water, canned food and candles at home before the storm. She initially expected the power to return quickly, but communications then failed, leaving her without information about what was happening.

“When you do not know what is happening with your loved ones, with your daughter, sister or brother, you cannot inform anyone or ask anything. You do not know where to go. That is the worst thing,” Ševkoviča said in an account reported by the Latvian Television programme De facto.

When the water supply also stopped, she carried water from a nearby pond to her fourth-floor apartment for use in the toilet. Her daughter brought drinking water the next day after travelling to Līvāni. Ševkoviča later learned that the municipality had arranged drinking water at several locations, but she found out only after communications were restored.