Southern Sweden braced for 100km/h hour winds as Storm Malik sweeps in

The emergency services have called in extra staff in southern Sweden to deal with the expected accidents involving falling trees, flying objects, and cars blown off the road. The Swedish Transport Association is warning of traffic disruptions, and police in several areas are warning people to avoid travelling if possible.

"Anyone going out in the traffic when the wind is really starting to blow should ask themselves whether their journey can wait to minimise the risk of accidents," wrote police in Kronoberg County.

Sweden's state weather forecaster SMHI has issued an orange weather warning for most of the west coast, Skåne and southern Småland.

"So far it's still relatively calm, with little more than a few gusts, but in the evening and especially at night, the area of low pressure is going to worsen, bringing winds of 30m/s (110 km/h) and more," said Moa Hallberg, the forecaster's meteorologist, at lunchtime on Saturday.

Jonas Hemert, operations chief for the rescue services in Northwest Skåne warned of a very rough sea which he warned could batter coastal areas.

"We have an exposed position and the water levels might rise by 1.5 meters, and the waves could be up to three meters high," he said.

Patric Nilsson, operations chief with the rescue services for Southern Sweden, said he had called in staff to deal with the more than 100 more calls than normal on Saturday.  

A sign at the Hylliebadet swimming pool in Malmö warns customers of early closing due to the storm. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

The storm is expected to move up onto the east coast of the country by Sunday morning.

"In the east, we've got colder air, so the rain is expected to be replaced by snow, and we've issued a warning of snow combined with wind for the coasts of Uppland and Roslagen," Hallberg said.

The German company E.on, which operates the network over much of southern Sweden, said that it was predicted that damage to the network might cause power cuts, but it said it would not come out to bring people back online until the storm was over, focusing instead on life-threatening situations.

"With the kinds of wind speed SMHI is warning about, it would quite simply be dangerous to send engineers out into the field," said Peter Hjalmar, the company's chief for southern Sweden in a press message. "We are going to focus on handled acute situations, which present a danger to the lives or health of the public."