A storm tears down trees, the sky is on fire in North Karelia and the streets are flooded – This is how fierce winds ravage Finland – 2024-08-31 20:52:22

Thunderstorms and rains cause headaches and dangerous situations in different parts of Finland. The rescue services of the regions have reported on numerous tasks. Weather conditions have brought down trees and caused local flooding.

Since Saturday afternoon, the North Karelia rescue service has received a large number of damage control tasks due to the thunderstorm front. The rescue service announced on Saturday evening that it had completed a total of 56 tasks and cleared hundreds of trees by around 10 p.m.

The most serious damage has occurred in the Rääkkylä Vihi and Piranniementie areas. According to the rescue service, there is also significant damage from the storm in Tohmajärvi’s Kannaksentie, Kostamontie and Haso areas.

The rescue service plans to find out the extent of the damage area in its entirety on Sunday with a reconnaissance flight. So far, the rescue service has not been informed of any personal injuries.

A band of thunderstorms passing over North Karelia has cut off electricity from thousands of households. PKS Sähkönsiirto said on Saturday afternoon that almost 7,000 of their customers’ households were without electricity.

– Thunderstorms are moving towards Kolli and it is still expected that there will be more faults in the next few hours in the directions of Ilomantsi and Lieksa, PKS Sähkönsiirro’s development and preparedness manager Matti Pesonen says in the announcement.

The company reminds that fallen trees or possibly broken power lines must not be cleared or repaired by yourself, as they can be life-threatening.

According to the power outage map maintained by the energy industry, there were outages in 26 municipalities across the country at 5:30 p.m. 7983 customers were completely without electricity.

According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the weather is widely unstable. It can rain heavily in places.

– Especially during the next few hours, there will be slow-moving rain and thundershowers in many places in the area shown on the map, accompanied by heavy rains (20 mm/h) and urban flooding in places. By tomorrow morning, 50mm of rain may accumulate in places, the Finnish Meteorological Institute writes in message service X.

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The ice rink was closed in Kangasala

Kangasala ice rink staff noticed on Saturday morning that the ice had melted due to a lightning strike. All ice shifts on Saturday had to be canceled, confirms the hall manager Tony Janger.

– This is not a swimming pool after all, Janger says.

Refreezing has started in the ice rink. You should be able to skate already on Sunday.

A thunderstorm in Pirkanmaa hit the hall’s cooling equipment on Friday. Janger remembers that something similar has happened before.

It was getting dark in the Tays

Tampere University Hospital’s Central Hospital has experienced a power outage on Friday evening, Tays informs. On the B side of the B section of the Central Hospital, there were disturbances in the electrical systems after 9 p.m. on Friday evening.

The disturbances were probably due to a malfunction caused by a lightning strike, and they were observed for just under two hours. Despite the dangerous situation, the patients’ safety was not compromised, Tays says in the press release.

– The personnel acted in an exemplary manner in the situation. In order to manage the situation, a disruption management group was established, the release states.

Electrical systems function normally again after a fault condition.

Flood in prism

Friday’s heavy rains have caused flooding in Jyväskylä.

A reader of Iltalehti, who shopped at Keljo’s Prisma before 9 p.m., recorded on video when Prisma started to flood. The video showed water bubbling from the floor all over the store.

According to the reader, customers were instructed to leave the store. According to the photographer on the spot in Keskifinnish, Prisma was closed.

The rescue service of Central Finland has been employed all evening for various damage control tasks. The rescue service has also had a damage control mission on Kylmälahdentie, where Keljo Prisma is located.

According to the release of the rescue service, the thunderstorm front has caused several tasks in the Central Finland region. Streets are flooded in urban areas, for example in Jyväskylä. However, no personal injuries have been caused.

Pirkanmaa’s rescue service has also had damage prevention tasks.