A powerful storm has reportedly wreaked havoc in Norway, causing landslides and leaving an entire town stranded.
This is even as meteorologists warned of the strongest rainfall in a quarter of a century.
Known as Storm Hans, the storm is said to have killed at least two people, ripped off roofs and caused widespread disruption across northern Europe in a summer that started with wildfires across much of the region.
The Norwegian meteorological institute issued a red danger warning – the highest level of risk – on Tuesday for extremely heavy rainfall across parts of southern Norway. “In many places, the event will be among the strongest in the last 25 years,” it warned.
On the east coast, north of Oslo, in parts of western Norway and the southern part of Trøndelag, as much as 80-100mm of rain in 24 hours was forecast, according to reports.
“Most counties in southern Norway will be affected to a greater or lesser extent,” the institute said. The danger warning was in place from Monday morning until Tuesday evening.
Strong winds and rain continued across the region, also causing disruption, cancelling ferries, delaying flights, uprooting trees, flooding streets and also causing outages across Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden.
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In Oslo, people were urged to work from home and to avoid unnecessary journeys.
Also in Valdres, some residents had to be airlifted by helicopter after there were several landslides. In the village of Bagn, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported that a house and garage had been destroyed after a landslide hit a housing estate, and authorities warned there could still be further incidents.
The Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, was quoted as saying that it was “a very serious situation”. He added: “We see floods and destruction. There is reason to expect that this will last another day.” The Norwegian water resources and energy directorate also warned of “extremely heavy rainfall” in the south of the country.
On Monday a 50-year-old woman in Lithuania and a man in Latvia were killed by falling trees. In central Sweden, a train was partly derailed owing to a washed-away embankment, injuring three. Elsewhere in Sweden, there were reports of chaotic scenes around Åre, a ski resort, where much of the town was flooded after a river burst its banks.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
