It was another weekend of frighteningly strong winds, closed roads, dangerously high seas and thousands of households left without power around Norway. More stormy weather was to blame, and meteorologists couldn’t confirm that the worst was over yet.
The west coast city of Ålesund was hit hard this time, after gale-force winds swept in from seas that had waves so high that ferry traffic was cancelled. Thousands of homes lost power and mountain passes leading into Ålesund were closed.
The state meteorological institute had sent out yet another series of storm warnings for the county of Møre og Romsdal, but Trøndelag, Oppland and Sogn og Fjordane were battered as well. The E6 highway over the mountains of Dovrefjell had to close once again, and many households remained without power Sunday night.
Almost all mountain highways closed over the weekend and the strong winds extended south to the Oslo area as well. At least 70 trees were uprooted in Akershus County, many of them crashing into houses, blocking roads and tearing down power lines. In Lørenskog, just northeast of Oslo, the winds blew trees over several homes, causing roof damage.
The skies were deceptively clear and blue around Oslo, but the winds were unusually fierce. Traffic on the busy E18 highway south of the capital was disrupted at Follo by a tree that crashed into the southbound lanes.
Trees also blocked roads on the island of Nesøya, in Lommedalen and at Skui. Around 3,000 homes lost power in Romerike, Oppegård and Bærum.
newsinenglish.no staff
