Advertisement

Thunder, tornadoes and now fires? You must be joking?!

TT/The Local
TT/The Local - [email protected]
Thunder, tornadoes and now fires? You must be joking?!
File photo of lightning. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Tens of thousands of Swedes were left without power for several hours after a thunderstorm caused a huge blackout in northern Sweden.

Advertisement

Lightning struck near Rengård, some 45 kilometres north-west of Skellefteå, at around 8pm on Sunday, causing a power outage for around 43,000 homes in the area.

Regional newspaper Norran also reported that its computer system and telephones had been knocked out, forcing it to take to Facebook to inform readers about what was going on.

Thousands of customers were still without power after midnight, but by 2am only around ten households remained affected, according to electricity provider Skellefteå Kraft.

The Västerbotten region was not the only area hit by thunderstorms and severe weather over the weekend. Tornadoes were spotted in southern Skåne as well as Södermanland, the region south of Stockholm, according to national weather institute SMHI.

Tornadoes are not unusual in Sweden in summer, but they are not as powerful as their counterparts in for example North America. However, SMHI forecasters warned Swedes not to go near them as they follow the thunderstorms northwards this week.

“It has such power that it is able to throw around loose objects,” meteorologist Alexandra Ohlsson told the TT newswire.

On Monday the weather agency also issued a warning for forest fires in eastern parts of Sweden, from Skåne in the south to Västernorrland county.

Have you snapped any cool weather pictures in Sweden? Email them to [email protected] or tag us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also