After devastating storm, power restored to 80% of customers
By Monday evening, power had been restored to around 220,000 customers following Saturday's storm, but roughly 54,000 remain without electricity. Drones are now being used to speed up damage assessment.
Restoration efforts continue at an accelerated pace after the powerful storm that hit Latvia on Saturday. By Monday evening, electricity had been restored to approximately 220,000 customers, though around 54,000 households and businesses are still without power.
The hardest-hit municipalities remain Preiļi, Aizkraukle, Sigulda, Rēzekne, Jēkabpils, Ogre, Ludza, Bauska, Krāslava, Jelgava, Saulkrasti and Cēsis. The grid operator warns that in some areas, particularly forested regions, full restoration could take several more days.
Damage also hit the transmission grid
Unusually extensive damage affected not only the distribution network but also the transmission grid operated by AS "Augstsprieguma tīkls". Since restoring the main transmission lines is a prerequisite for reconnecting larger numbers of customers, some "Sadales tīkls" crews have been working alongside transmission-grid colleagues since Sunday, including near Preiļi, where repairs are still ongoing.
Drones and Estonian crews join the effort
223 "Sadales tīkls" repair crews are currently working on the damage, along with seven crews from Estonia's grid operator Elektrilevi. As weather conditions improved, both Latvian and Estonian teams received approval from the Civil Aviation Agency to begin using drones to inspect power lines, significantly speeding up the identification of fault locations. By Monday afternoon, drones had already surveyed around 150 kilometers of storm-damaged lines.
Residents are encouraged to check the outage map at www.sadalestikls.lv and report any unregistered faults through the site's damage-reporting section, including a photo. Hazardous situations should be reported via the free hotline 8404 or the State Fire and Rescue Service at 112.
On Saturday, Latvia's Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre had issued a red thunderstorm warning for the west and central parts of the country, and an orange warning for the east. By Saturday morning, about 277,000 customers in Latvia were without power. The storm also caused major outages in Lithuania, where roughly 256,000 households lost electricity.
