Swedish weather service forecasts left municipalities ill-prepared for major floods
- Flood warnings issued by Sweden’s national weather service, SMHI, have been inadequate, according to several municipalities affected by major floods over the last 20 or so years, Swedish Radio’s Kaliber programme reveals today.
- Johan Ahlström is a risk analysis engineer in Västerås, which was hit by severe floods in September this year and he does not think the warnings they received were good enough.
- ”Not at all. We saw the weather warning in the system and it’s a yellow warning in the northern parts of the county. Nothing about torrential rain,” he says.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Oldest town in Yukon almost wiped out by ice jams and flooding, CBC News
Finland: Lapland seeing high waters, unusually heavy snow, Yle News
Sweden: Heavier rainfall will increase risk of landslides and flooding in Sweden, Radio Sweden.
United Kingdom: Arctic ice melt could put 1.5 million UK properties at flooding risk: report, Eye on the Arctic
United States: Bursting ice dam in Alaska highlights risks of glacial flooding around the globe, The Associated Press
