Latvia draws lessons on crisis readiness after devastating storm
Days after a severe weekend storm, tens of thousands of Latvian households remain without power, prompting officials to assess what lessons should be learned about crisis preparedness. The head of the Crisis Management Centre stressed the importance of individual household readiness.
Several days after a powerful summer storm swept through Latvia, tens of thousands of households are still without electricity. Many people also faced disruptions to mobile communications and internet access, making it difficult to get information or contact others, while in some areas shops and petrol stations were unable to operate.
As storm damage continues to be repaired, officials are drawing conclusions about lessons to be learned from the crisis. These were discussed on the August 25 broadcast of "Spried ar Delfi," where journalist Līva Daniela Borisova spoke with Arvis Zīle, head of the Crisis Management Centre, Rolands Irklis, chairman of the board of AS "Augstsprieguma tīkls," and Raivis Ragainis, chairman of the Jēkabpils municipal council.
Power restoration continues
By the morning of August 25, electricity had been restored to about 250,000 customers — roughly 90% of those affected by the storm-related outages. Some 700 storm-caused faults in the distribution grid have already been fixed, though work continues at an intensified pace to restore power to the remaining approximately 31,000 customers, according to grid operator "Sadales tīkls." Separately, transmission system operator AS "Augstsprieguma tīkls" restored voltage to nearly all substations that had lost power over the weekend by Monday evening, allowing "Sadales tīkls" to proceed with repairs in medium- and low-voltage networks.
The storm that struck Saturday and the following night was the strongest summer storm in Latvia in recent decades, with wind gusts locally exceeding 30 meters per second. It initially cut power to around 277,000 customers.
Individual preparedness needed
In an interview with Latvian Radio, Crisis Management Centre head Arvis Zīle said some residents could have been better prepared for the storm's consequences, while acknowledging that state and municipal authorities also have lessons to learn. He said the reason a power outage was able to bring daily life to a halt largely comes down to individual readiness. Zīle noted that there has long been public awareness of the need to be able to survive at least 72 hours without outside help, including having generators at home, yet in practice many households had not made such preparations.
