Storm Helga weather warning for Sweden
The Swedish weather service SMHI has issued an official warning for high winds of up to 30 metres per second in the south west of the country, early Friday.
Just days after Storm Gorm wreaked havoc in southern Sweden, a new storm, ‘Helga’, is moving in from the North Sea and Kattegatt and will reach West Götaland, Bohuslän, North Halland and Dalsland early Friday.
SMHI has issued a class 2 warning for wind speeds of up to 30 metres per second. The storm is set to move easterwards during the day.
Even though roads and rail traffic will be affected, ‘Helga’ is said to be not as fierce as Storm Gorm, which felled 2.5 million cubic metres of forests and left thousands of homes in southern Sweden without power.
“Storm Gorm passed a few days ago, causing major damage in southern Sweden. Although tomorrow’s storm does not appear to be as strong, there is still a risk that the damage will be great due to weaknesses in buildings and forests which may have occurred because of Gorm, says SVT meteorologist Joel Mellin.
Still recovering from previous storm
Jakob Holmström, communications manager at energy company Eon, says that this is an uncomfortable situation for them.
“It’s really bad timing that this storm is coming now forests are frayed by the previous storm. It does not take many gusts for some trees, already broken to some extent, to fall completely,” he tells SVT News.
He says that Eon has made many temporary solutions to get the power supply back up after Gorm, and that they are not safe from the wind speeds that may come on Friday.
“Thirty percent of the electricity grid is not buried, and many could suffer.”
A class 2 weather warning means that developments in the weather can pose a danger to the public, large material damage and interruptions to important social functions.
Related stories from around the North:
Finland: Finland storm knocks out mobile networks, Yle News
Greenland: Changing Sea Ice: The Ripple Effect (VIDEO), Eye on the Arctic
Norway: 2014 warmest year in history for Norway, Barents Observer
Sweden: Snowploughs out in North Sweden week before Midsummer, Radio Sweden
