Stockholm - Train services resumed Monday in western Sweden
that was severely battered by strong winds that reached gale-force in
gusts over the weekend but train operator SJ said delays were
expected to remain in other parts of the country.
Power companies in Sweden deployed hundreds of extra workers to
clear fallen trees from power lines, but said it was not possible to
state when power would be fully restored.
More than 180,000 households mainly in the southern province of
Smaland were affected by power cuts Monday afternoon.
The Swedish Forest Agency conducted aerial surveys and estimated
that 12 million cubic metres of forest was felled, making the storm
one of the worst to hit Sweden in recent years - a January 2005 storm
was worse with 75 million cubic metres.
The Forest Agency also expressed fears that the spruce bark beetle
would increase in numbers. The beetle, a vermin that thrives in
storm-felled forest, was already increasing in numbers after the
storm two years ago, agency analyst Magnus Fridh said.
In Denmark, the storm and high seas were reported to have eroded a
sizeable chunk of the coastline on the small island Anholt in the
Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden.
Although winds were less severe Monday, plans to allow divers to
inspect the aft section of a Cyprus-registered freighter that ran
aground off western Norway and broke up late Friday were postponed.
The ship, Server, was headed for Murmansk in northern Russia and
was not transporting any cargo when it ran aground. Some 240 tons of
fuel was estimated to have leaked into the sea, threatening a local
bird sanctuary.
Cleanup operations were also delayed over the prevailing
conditions.
Elderly people in the worst hit areas in the southern Swedish
province Smaland were offered to be evacuated to nursing homes until
power was restored.
Schools and kindergartens were closed Monday in several districts
of Smaland and southern Sweden, local officials said citing the power
cuts and impassable roads due to toppled trees on the roads.
Falling trees claimed the lives of three people Sunday, including
a young boy who was crushed to death when a falling tree hit the
scooter he was riding on together with his father in Motala, some 250
kilometres south-west of Stockholm.
The Swedish weather service SMHI said the storm was the worst to
hit the country in two years.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story