Residents urged to secure trampolines before overnight winds

Residents in southern and southwestern Iceland who still have unsecured trampolines in their gardens are being urged to bring them into storage before tonight, mbl.is reports.

Strong easterly winds and powerful gusts are expected overnight and on Monday morning, and loose objects could be blown away, according to Marcel de Vries, an on-duty meteorologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The strongest winds are forecast beneath the Eyjafjöll mountains, south of Mýrdalsjökull glacier and on the Reykjanes Peninsula. Gusts could reach 15 to 23 metres per second.

“Gale-force winds will develop shortly after midnight and then ease quickly around nine or ten in the morning,” de Vries said.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office has warned that vehicles exposed to strong winds could face dangerous conditions and urged people to secure loose objects outdoors, particularly in southwestern Iceland.

“There has not been much strong wind recently, and people often have a lot of things left outside in their gardens after the summer. They could easily be blown away in winds like these,” de Vries said.

He identified trampolines that are not firmly secured as a particular risk.

“A trampoline is probably the best example of something that could be blown away and damage a house. It could even be dangerous for people,” he said.