Recovering from the worst storm in years

Along the Norwegian coast, from Sogn og Fjordane to Finnmark, people are Monday morning trying to get an overview of the damage wrought by the winter storms "Dagmar" and "Cato", said to be the strongest winter storms in 30 years. 

In the municipality of Vågsøy in Sogn og Fjordane both the permanent and the cell phone nets are down, and the administration has appealed to anyone with a mobile satellite phone to come to their assistance, to establish an emergency service.

In Møre og Romsdal, most of the county is wiithout electricity Monday morning due to damages caused by the storm, which measured up to 200.9 kmph (55.8m/sec) at Ona lighthouse, before the instruments suddenly collapsed Sunday night.

Police warned the public to stay indoors, and many went to their basements when the storm was at its worst, and flying sheds and terrasses smashed in windows in several homes. The Home Guard has been called in to assist the administration.

Many roads are blocked by large blown down trees, and traffic both at land and sea is at a standstill, with ferries and ships remaining in habour, including the coastal cruiseliners Hurtigruten.

This is also the case in the counties of Trøndelag, Nordland and Troms. Hurtigruten's "Kong Harald" and "Trollfjord" with around 400 passengers onboard spent Christmas in Trondheim, rather than continuing on their scheduled trip to Bergen.

Also in Trøndelag there are blocked roads and railroads, and the roof of a large sports hall was blown off.

The strong winds also affected areas in South Eastern Norway, and there are many reports of blown down trees blocking streets and breaking power lines even as far south as Olso.

Miraculously, the Central air-sea rescue center had by Monday morning not received any reports of serious injuries caused by the violent storm.

(NRK)

Monday, 26 December 2011 09:28