Severe storm causes extensive emergency responses across Finland, affecting thousands of households

Last night, a severe storm swept through Finland, leading to numerous emergency responses across the country. The winds reached historic hurricane-force levels in western Finland, with a peak wind speed of 33.5 meters per second recorded in Kylmäpihlaja, Rauma. Kari Kankaanpää, the on-duty fire chief from the Satakunta rescue services, reported over 300 separate emergency calls between 8 PM Friday and 5 AM Saturday, primarily focused on damage control in the Rauma, Eurajoki, and Luvia areas.

The majority of the emergency tasks involved fallen trees and torn roof structures, with a significant number of calls related to threats to property. The situation at the Satakunta rescue services calmed briefly after 5 AM, but activity surged again as people began to wake up and assess the damage, resulting in an increase in reports.

Jari Aalto, a local resident, shared his experience of clearing a path for an ambulance to pass through fallen debris, expressing concern about the danger of trees falling nearby. His home remains without electricity.

Kankaanpää anticipates that damage control tasks may decline today if weather conditions stabilize. However, he noted that other services, particularly those involved in electrical repairs, would remain busy for an extended period, with restoring power expected to take several days. Following Friday night’s storm, power outages persist, especially along the western coast and in areas like Kanta-Häme and Pirkanmaa. As of 9 AM, more than 17,000 households were still without electricity according to the energy industry’s outage map.