Tens of thousands of households in Sweden are without electricity overnight due to the severe storm Alfrida, which continues to rage.
The Öresund Bridge is closed in both directions and over 97,000 households are without power early this morning, but the number is changing quickly.
The winds have been strongest over Svealand and Götaland during the night and early morning. In Norrland the wind has subsided in most areas. In several other parts of Sweden, SMHI's gust warnings have been removed.
– The class 2 warnings for eastern Svealand remain in place during the morning. A class 2 warning also remains for Gotland and for Öland we have a class 1 warning for very strong winds, says meteorologist Sandra Andersson at SMHI to TT at 05:00.
Although it will continue to be very windy in large parts of the country, the winds are slowly decreasing.
SMHI's class 2 warnings apply in Stockholm and Uppsala counties.
– There is still a risk of storms in the area for another hour or two. They will be downgraded to class 1 during the morning, but it is only during the afternoon that I have more generally decreasing winds over Uppsala and Stockholm County, says Sandra Andersson.
On Gotland, the winds have started to pick up considerably early in the morning. At Fårösund, winds of 34.7 meters per second have been measured, and at Visby Airport, it is blowing 26 meters per second in the villages.
”Blows excessively”
Tens of thousands of households are without electricity overnight due to storm Alfrida, but the number is constantly changing.
In Stockholm County, tens of thousands of subscribers were affected by power outages during the night.
In Söderköping municipality, many people were affected by an outage around 11:30 p.m.
– They are mostly out in the archipelago and it's not surprising since it's extremely windy out at sea, says Björn Persson at Eon's press office just after midnight, about the outage in Östergötland.
Many trees have fallen on power lines. There are also trees lying on uninsulated power lines.
– What we can do here tonight is to make switches in the network so that we confine the fault itself to as limited an area as possible, says Björn Persson.
The switching work is carried out both from operating centers and in the field.
However, the actual repair work will be carried out on Wednesday. For safety reasons, it will not be done overnight.
– We'll see how we can manage it in the archipelago where many islands are affected. You don't get there by car, but by boat, and we don't do that in the dark. Quite a few people in the area run the risk that it could be until dawn tomorrow before the power comes back on, says Björn Persson.
The Swedish Transport Administration advises against non-essential travel in the areas worst affected by storm Alfrida, and where trees are falling across the roads.
Those traveling outside should also take extra caution in other parts of the country where there are strong winds.
”"The Swedish Transport Administration urges all road users to take their time in traffic and adapt their driving style to weather and road conditions," it says on the authority's website.
The Öresund Bridge closed in both directions shortly after 3 a.m. and is expected to remain closed until 7 a.m. Wind-sensitive vehicles are advised not to drive over the Öresund Bridge during the morning or early afternoon due to the strong winds.
Source: TT
