Around 20,000 customers still without power Tuesday evening in Latvia
By Tuesday evening, four days after a powerful storm, power had been restored to 93% of affected customers in Latvia, but roughly 20,000 still remain without electricity. In some areas supply is cutting out again as broken trees continue falling on lines.
Restoration work continues four days after the powerful summer storm that hit Latvia on Saturday, August 22, and the following night. According to distribution system operator "Sadales tīkls," about 93% of customers affected by the storm had their power restored by Tuesday evening, but roughly 20,000 customers remain without electricity.
The company warns that in some locations, power may cut out again after being restored, as broken trees and branches continue falling onto power lines even after repairs. The hardest-hit areas remain the Ogre region, along with Aizkraukle, Rēzekne, Preiļi and Jēkabpils regions.
Latvian and Estonian crews involved
On Tuesday, 226 "Sadales tīkls" crews were working on repairs, including all of the company's available resources, plus seven crews from Estonian operator "Elektrilevi." Drones are being used to speed up the identification of damage sites — 600 kilometers of damaged lines have already been surveyed by drone. "Sadales tīkls" is also cooperating with telecom operators to restore mobile communications as quickly as possible.
Transmission network already restored
Transmission system operator AST (Augstsprieguma tīkls) restored voltage on Tuesday afternoon to the last of more than 40 substations that had disconnected from the grid due to the weekend storm. This allowed "Sadales tīkls" to continue restoring medium- and low-voltage networks. AST board member Imants Zviedris said all available resources have been deployed throughout the week. The storm damaged more than 1,500 kilometers of transmission lines, with damage recorded on nearly 50 lines. In total, more than 200 AST and "Sadales tīkls" crews are involved in the recovery effort.
The storm, with gusts locally exceeding 30 meters per second, initially left about 277,000 customers in Latvia without power.
