Firefighters tackle storm damage in Lithuania, 106,000 consumers still have no power

VILNIUS – Lithuanian firefighters have been called in 900 times in the past 24 hours to deal with the aftermath of the wind and rain that hit the country on Sunday evening.

On Tuesday morning, 106,000 consumers still had their electricity supply disrupted.

“All day and night long, our forces have been on the move to remove fallen trees and what else was knocked down yesterday,” Konradas Liekis of the Fire and Rescue Department told BNS on Tuesday.

“We now have over 900 call-outs. From 6 a.m. on Monday to 6 a.m. on Tuesday,” he said.

According to Liekis, most of the call-outs were in the central part of Lithuania – Siauliai, Panevezys and Kaunas Region.

Firefighters mostly went to remove trees fallen on roads, buildings and cars.

A tree knocked down by wind killed a woman in the Grigiskes area of Vilnius on Monday.

According to the data of ESO, the country's electricity distribution operator, 106,000 consumers still waited for electricity supply to be restored at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

Rasa Juodkiene of ESO told the LRT Radio on Tuesday that consumers in Vilnius Region were the most affected.

According to her, 20,000-30,000 consumers had their electricity supply restored overnight.

“Now we have concentrated our attention on the most urbanized areas, where it is possible to restore the supply of electricity to a large number of consumers at the same time, but we will have to wait until we get to homesteads,” Juodkiene said.

Heavy rain on Monday evening caused a landslide on the southern slope of the capital's Gediminas Hill. According to the National Museum of Lithuania, which maintains the hill, the landslide does not pose a threat to its stability.

The slopes of the Papile II mound in Akmene District also slipped.

Some municipalities are planning to declare an emergency due to the damage caused by the storm.

According to the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service, catastrophic rain was recorded in five Lithuanian municipalities – Siauliai, Joniskis, Mazeikiai, Telsiai and Laukuva, Silale District – and heavy rain in many other areas on Monday. Wind gusts of up to 31 meters per second were registered in some places.