“Based on the number of fire and rescue service calls, it can be said that the consequences of this storm will be the greatest in the last two decades,” the service stated in a post on the social network “Facebook.”
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The most calls were registered in the Kaunas (323), Vilnius (204), Alytus (188), Utena (110), Marijampolė (98), Klaipėda (95) counties.
It is stated that firefighters have been removing fallen trees from roads, buildings, cars, and electrical infrastructure all Saturday. Trees fell on cars 69 times, on buildings 62 times, and on power poles 29 times.
“For comparison – from the beginning of this year until mid-August, firefighters responded 1,231 times to remove the effects of strong winds. Today, this number was exceeded in one day,” PAGD notes.
The General Emergency Center also received the highest call volume this year. From 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., 11,460 reports were recorded, the majority of which were related to the storm’s consequences.
In the morning, most calls were due to incidents in Southern Lithuania, later in the central part of the country, and in the afternoon most reports came from Western Lithuania.
As BNS wrote, a tree that fell in the Anykščiai district on Saturday evening fatally injured a man.
According to the latest data from the “Energy Distribution Operator,” the number of residents experiencing electricity supply problems reaches 240 thousand.
Due to power supply disruptions caused by poor weather conditions, some train delays are also possible.
According to the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service, based on preliminary data, the strongest wind gusts were recorded at Ventė Cape and Nida by the sea.
Here, a hurricane-strength wind gust reaching up to 33 meters per second was recorded.
Strong winds were also recorded in the Klaipėda port, Šilutė, Kaunas, Kybartai, Lazdijai, and Šventoji.
Meanwhile, a torrential rain was recorded at the Šilutė meteorological station. According to the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service, 83% of the August monthly precipitation norm fell there since morning.
The torrential rain threshold was also reached in Šiauliai.
Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service meteorologist Janas Vaitkevičius told LRT that Saturday’s storm is the strongest recorded storm this summer.
It is forecasted that the wind in Southern Lithuania will start to calm down in the evening, and in Northern Lithuania – during the coming night.
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