Over 30,000 households in Latvia still without power after storm

About 31,000 customers across Latvia were still without electricity on Tuesday morning, according to grid operator Sadales tīkls. The most severe disruptions remain in Ogre and Ogre municipality, as well as in Aizkraukle, Preiļi, Rēzekne, Jēkabpils and Bauska municipalities.

By 6 a.m. on Tuesday, power had been restored to roughly 250,000 customers — about 90% of those who lost electricity during the storm. Crews have already fixed 700 storm-related faults in the distribution grid. Power returned to the town of Preiļi on Monday evening, along with about half of the customers in Preiļi municipality.

Repair work continues

Work is proceeding on two fronts: inspecting damaged lines to identify faults, and carrying out the actual repairs. In many places large trees have fallen onto power lines, cables have been torn down, or poles have snapped. The company says the pace of restoration depends on the number and complexity of faults and the size of the area that needs to be surveyed.

More than 200 Sadales tīkls crews are involved in the repair effort, drawing on all available company resources, along with additional crews from Estonia's distribution system operator Elektrilevi. Drone surveys of the storm damage will continue on Tuesday, speeding up the identification of fault locations.

Strongest summer storm in decades

The damage was caused by a storm that struck on Saturday, August 22, and continued overnight, described as the strongest summer storm in Latvia in recent decades, with wind gusts locally exceeding 30 meters per second. The storm damaged both distribution and transmission power networks, initially cutting electricity to around 277,000 customers. The power outages also disrupted communications, fuel stations and, in some areas, shops.