Storm damage in Latvia: hundreds of emergency calls, about 185,000 households without power
On Saturday evening, strong wind and rain triggered more than 660 calls to Latvia's 112 emergency line, mostly in Latgale and Zemgale, while roughly 185,000 households across the country lost power.
On Saturday evening the number of calls to Latvia's unified emergency line 112 related to storm damage from strong winds kept climbing rapidly. By 9 p.m., the State Fire and Rescue Service (VUGD) had logged 668 such calls. Latgale recorded the most, 310, including calls from Daugavpils and Augšdaugava municipality. Zemgale followed with 177 calls, many from Jēkabpils municipality and Jelgava. Kurzeme registered 127 calls, while Vidzeme, Riga and the Riga region saw considerably fewer.
Fallen trees and damaged buildings
Most incidents involved trees toppled by wind onto roads, though buildings and vehicles were also affected in several places. In Jēkabpils and Viesīte, fallen trees damaged multiple cars; in Daugavpils, wind tore off part of a building's roof structure and a tree fell onto a residential house; in Liepāja, a tree fell on two cars. To cope with the surge in calls, VUGD deployed additional firefighter-rescuer crews in Daugavpils, Jēkabpils and Ilūkste, and also called on volunteer firefighters. The service said it is operating under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions while also responding to other emergencies, including fires.
To support monitoring and response efforts, the European Union's Copernicus satellite mapping service was activated to assist coordination among responsible authorities. Given the red- and orange-level warnings issued for heavy rainfall and strong wind, VUGD twice activated its cell broadcast alert system on Saturday, warning residents in affected areas and urging them to cancel outdoor plans.
Hundreds of thousands left without electricity
According to grid operator AS "Sadales tīkls," about 185,000 customers were without power by 10 p.m., including 1,300 households in Riga. The company warned that restoring power in some cases could take longer than 24 hours. Transmission network faults also affected several municipalities, including Olaine, Jelgava, Ķekava and Madona, while outages in areas such as Pļaviņas and Ērgļi had already been resolved. Most power disruptions were caused by trees and branches broken by wind or lightning.
