First Winter Snowfall Causes Chaos In Nordic Region
Date: 25-Nov-08
Country: SWEDEN
Following a mild winter last year, heavy snows at the weekend took people by surprise.
Thomas Andersson at the Swedish Road Administration said all its resources had been mobilised to handle the snows, with about 150 snow ploughs operating in the Stockholm area alone.
Flights at Arlanda airport, Sweden's biggest airport near Stockholm, suffered delays of up to two hours as well as some cancellations due to strong winds.
"We are running at half capacity. We have one runway operating instead of two," said airport spokeswoman Karin Magnusson.
Across the Baltic Sea, Estonia had more than 44 cm (17 inches) of snow in places and at the height of the storm 33,500 households were without electricity. Baltic ferry traffic was also stopped and Tallinn airport cancelled flights.
In Finland, up to 30 cm of snow fell over Sunday, with wind speeds in coastal areas topping storm levels. The storm caused serious delays in flight, shipping and train traffic.
Passengers were stranded in Helsinki-Vantaa airport for most of the night, leaving hundreds to queue for taxis.
Finnish national broadcaster YLE said that as of midday on Monday, some 2,000 homes were still without power. In Latvia, about 25,000 people were without electricity.
(Reporting by Patrick Lannin, Niklas Pollard, Brett Young, David Mardiste)
