Blackout for many due to storms in Norway

Agder Energi Power Outage, Electricity BlackoutAgder Energi Nett reminds us that it is important to keep a distance if one detects lines that have fallen on the ground, low hanging lines and trees that have fallen on the lines. Touching is dangerous!. Photo: Agder Energi

Blackout for thousands due to storms in Norway

In excess of 60.000 Norwegians has experienced blackout due to falling trees during the night. 5.000 customers are still bereft of electric supply. Update: Several killed in the train incident in Denmark, details will follow in a separate article later.

 

In recent days, storms and heavy winds have led to a number of problems. The wind has blown several trees across both roads and power lines, which have led to both traffic problems and blackouts.

“During the evening and through the night, more than 40,000 of our customers in Oslo, Akershus and Østfold have been affected by this. Most of them for a relatively short period, but some have been without electric power for hours on end,” Communications Manager in Hafslund Nett, Morten Schau, tells NTB on Wednesday morning.

He says the largest power outage occurred on Tuesday evening when 25,000 customers lost their electricity for a short period. 795 of Hafslund’s customers are still waiting to get it back, according to Schau.

The wind has blown trees across the lines and Romerike is hit the hardest. It will probably be a few hours into the day before everybody has their electric supply restored, he warns.

Dispatches helicopters

Many of Eidsiva Energi’s customers in Hedmark and Oppland have also experienced power outages and nearly 23,000 of their customers have been affected for shorter or longer periods during the night. There are still 4,388 customers without electric power on Wednesday morning.

“The crew has been working through the night. As soon as it gets bright, we deploy helicopters to locate where the faults are, in order for our ground crews to quickly rectify. In some places the lines have to be restrung, elsewhere it may suffice to remove the trees only,” Communication Manager for Grid and Production in Eidsiva Energi, Ragnhild Børresen Abrante, tells NTB.

She further states that the customers who live in Nord-Odal municipality in Hedmark were hit hardest by the blackouts. Abrante implores customers to report power failures, as low voltage errors may occur after the lines have been reconnected.

Wind in the Nordic region

In Denmark and Sweden, the wind has blown strongly and has caused major problems, both in terms of blackout and traffic. In Sweden, 80,000 persons are without an electric power supply after the storm Alfrida, according to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

Both the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden and the Storebælt Bridge in Denmark were closed to traffic during Wednesday night due to the weather.

On the latter bridge, eight persons suffered minor injuries when a train had to brake abruptly while crossing the bridge on Wednesday morning.

 


© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
RSS Feed