Railway bridge collapses in Norway after floods

OSLO: A railway bridge in southern Norway that had been closed to traffic since last week due to heavy flooding collapsed on Monday but no one was injured, police said.

The metal structure broke in half after a pillar weakened by rising floodwaters gave way and fell in to the Lagen river, images by public broadcaster NRK showed. “No bodily injuries have been reported,” regional police wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Located on the rail line linking the towns of Eidsvoll and Trondheim, the bridge was closed to traffic due to the high floodwaters caused by days of heavy rains. A storm dubbed Hans raged across Norway and Sweden last week, leading to landslides and the evacuation of thousands of people in Norway, as well as major traffic disruptions.

The municipality of Ringerike in southeastern Norway said 920 of its inhabitants had still not been able to return home as of Monday morning. The situation has started to return to normal in most other affected regions, but more heavy rain was forecast for southeastern Norway on Tuesday. As a result, authorities have warned of a heightened risk of landslides.