On Friday evening, about 15,000 households were without electricity. By Saturday morning, around 4,000 households were still without power. This mainly occurred in Southern Estonia. Thunderstorms are expected to continue on Saturday. Elektrilevi says new disruptions are expected.
According to Elektrilevi, the outages were mainly in Southern Estonia. The Tarktee.ee map shows that trees have fallen on the road in several places. Leho Lemsalu from the Rescue Board said that there was wind, rain, hail, and thunder across Estonia. „Southern Estonia suffered the most damage. The wind broke trees and branches. Because of this, roads were closed and power lines were damaged,“ Lemsalu said.
Rescue workers had nearly 90 callouts. Most were related to fallen trees in Southern Estonia. Fortunately, there were no major building fires. Lemsalu warned that wind, rain, and thunderstorms are expected on Saturday. „This could bring similar consequences,“ he said. People are informing the rescue board when trees have fallen on roads. In some cases, there was also building damage. The Rescue Board advises staying indoors and avoiding trees.
Elektrilevi is ready to respond to new outages on Saturday. „Strong thunderstorms, hail, and storms caused many disruptions. We have been out all night fixing the faults,“ said Elektrilevi’s head Mihkel Härm. On Friday evening, around 15,000 customers were without power, and by Saturday morning, it was about 4,000. Härm said that new outages are expected on Saturday.
„The main problem is broken trees. Thunderstorms and strong winds broke trees. In Southern Estonia, trees were uprooted and power lines were damaged,“ said Härm. Elektrilevi teams are ready to work on Saturday. Work on the power grid cannot be done during thunderstorms as it is dangerous. Härm said that repairs from Friday’s faults should be completed by Saturday.
Valgamaa suffered the most, where there are still the most outages. Elektrilevi has sent significant resources there. On Saturday morning, thunderstorms are also in Harjumaa, where teams are ready. If a large tree falls on a power line, a new line must be built. This could take a long time.
On Saturday evening, a traffic accident occurred in Viljandimaa, where a car collided with a tree that had fallen on the road. In Valga, several trees broke, some landing on houses. One tree landed on power lines, causing the electricity to go out. Part of the cinema roof on Kuperjanovi Street was blown off. In Valgamaa and Võrumaa, there were dangerously large hailstones.