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Baltic cyclone aftermath
A powerful cyclone swept across Latvia and Lithuania on Saturday and into Sunday morning, killing two people and leaving around half a million people without electricity, as rain and strong winds battered the region.
“Two people died and around half a million people were left without electricity across Latvia and Lithuania”
In Latvia, one person died in Jelgava, central Latvia, when part of a building collapsed on Saturday, and wind speed exceeded 67 mph on Saturday in Riga.
The storm also killed another person in Lithuania after being hit by a falling tree, while more than 200,000 residents were without electricity on Sunday morning.
In addition to Latvia and Lithuania, strong winds battered Estonia, with ferry services to islands disrupted and trains arriving from Latvia and Lithuania delayed, and northeastern Poland was affected with more than 100,000 people losing power.
Officials on severity
Andris Viksna, from the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre, said the storm “This seems to be the most severe storm in Latvia since 2005 in terms of its overall impact,” as the Baltic region faced widespread outages and transport disruption.
The Associated Press reported that Viksna told AP, “It appears to be the most severe storm in Latvia since 2005 in terms of its overall impact,” tying the assessment to the storm’s overall impact.
Riga airport said on Sunday morning that flights could be delayed or rerouted because of the severe storm overnight, and rail and other public transport services were affected by trees and other objects falling on infrastructure.
The Irish Examiner also said more than quarter of a million people were left without electricity and mobile services were disrupted, while the situation was expected to improve on Sunday and certainly by Monday.
Climate change and recovery
While the storm’s immediate damage was described as severe, the Irish Examiner said “The contribution of climate change cannot be properly assessed yet,” even as it added that “it is plausible that human-caused climate change may have intensified the rainfall associated with the cyclone.”
““The contribution of climate change cannot be properly assessed yet,””
The Associated Press version quoted Viksna saying the contribution of climate change cannot yet be adequately assessed, but “it is plausible that human-caused climate change has intensified the rainfall associated with the cyclone.”
Across the region, the storm’s effects were expected to ease, with the Irish Examiner saying the situation was expected to improve on Sunday and certainly by Monday.
In the meantime, the storm’s disruption extended to infrastructure and services, including rail delays from Latvia and Lithuania and ferry services to islands being disrupted as strong winds battered Estonia’s western and northern parts and its islands.