COPENHAGEN (AP) — A storm with strong winds in Sweden tore the roof off the main train station in Gothenburg on Friday, causing power outages and temporarily halting rail traffic to and from the country’s second-largest city. At the moment no injuries have been reported.
The storm hit the southern coast of Scandinavia on Thursday night, and Sweden’s Meteorological and Hydrological Institute issued its second-highest warning on Friday. Around 4,000 people were left without power on the west coast of Sweden, the country’s TT news agency reported.
Photos taken in Gothenburg, on Sweden’s west coast, showed part of a roof over the tracks at the central station, and local authorities said it was not yet known when rail traffic would resume. A bridge in the archipelago north of Goteborg was closed to traffic, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported.
By midday, some of the station’s tracks were reopened with reduced capacity, Angelika Knutsson, spokesperson for the Swedish Transport Administration, told SVT.
Gothenburg emergency services urged the population to stay at home because “loose objects can fly long distances and represent a danger to people, such as parts of buildings, signs, roof tiles and other loose objects outside.”
Gothenburg police said they received around 200 calls about downed trees on roads overnight. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Caroline Karlsson told TT.
For its part, the Danish Meteorological Institute reported that the storm, which it called Rolf, was mainly traveling through the northern and northwestern part of the country. Several trees were downed and objects blown by the wind were reported throughout the country, Danish media reported.
Danish meteorologists measured gusts of 135.36 kilometers (84.11 miles) per hour in the north of that country.
In Denmark, meteorologists said the storm was over. Martin Rundager, director of accident assistance at one of Denmark’s largest insurance companies, GF Forsikring, said the storm “managed to cause quite a bit of damage.” The company received about 100 reports of damage, but expected that number to increase.
There were reports of flooded roads in southern Norway. The Norwegian Directorate of Water Resources and Energy had issued a flood warning for the area, saying rain and melting snow in the coming days could cause rivers and streams to overflow.
Authorities in Norway said there was a risk of damage to buildings and infrastructure, and Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported that ferry services and flights were expected to be cancelled.
Several ferry lines in Scandinavia have temporarily suspended their service.
2024-02-23 16:17:19
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