Finland snowstorm leaves tens of thousands without power

HELSINKI: Up to 80,000 households in Finland lost power on Thursday and traffic was disrupted as the country´s first big snowstorm of the season brought strong winds, the Finnish Meteorological Institute told AFP.

Storm Jari arrived in Finland on Wednesday, with winds on Thursday measuring up to 25 metres per second, as well as heavy snow and rainfall across the Nordic country.

The severe weather caused up to 80,000 households to lose power overnight, though electricity had been restored to many by Thursday morning.

Some 49,000 people were still without power on Thursday around midday.

“The storm is currently strongest in southern and western Finland and northern parts of the Sea of Bothnia”, Jani Parviainen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) told AFP.

Describing the vast amount of power outages as “remarkable”, Parviainen said Jari had been “one of the strongest storms in a few years”.

The poor weather conditions led to several road accidents and damage to forests.

Fallen trees affected rail traffic, with the national railway company VR urging passengers to “be prepared for delays and possible cancellations” on Thursday.

Several flights were cancelled or delayed at Helsinki airport, and ferries arriving in the capital struggled to dock due to rough seas and sea levels considerably higher than normal. “The winds are expected to weaken in all of Finland in the next 24 hours,” Parviainen said.