Storm Sven eases as clean up begins

The gale force winds have eased on Sweden's west coast while there remain some warnings for strong winds over Gotland and some parts of the east coast as the storm pushes out over the Baltic Sea.

 

"It is not a question of the strong wind speeds which we have had before and in general it has settled down," said Marcus Sjöstedt , meteorologist at SMHI.

 

Snow showers are forecast for eastern Svealand and along the southern coast of Norrland during Saturday while in southern Sweden, which bore the brunt of the storm, moderate to fresh winds are forecast.

 

"It will be a pretty nice winter day with sunny spells," said Marcus Sjöstedt.

 

Cold wintry conditions are expected to come with a low pressure front pushing in over southern Sweden and any residual precipitation is thus likely to fall as snow.

 

It is hoped that rail services in Skåne in southern Sweden will resume service during Saturday with railway lines set to open progressively.

 

"As soon as it gets light, inspection of the tracks will begin to see which can open," said Thomas Pihl ​​at the Transport Administration (Trafikverket) press office.

 

Some routes will however remain out of service..

 

"There they have found a bug that needs fixing," said Thomas Pihl.

 

Services between Malmö and Ystad/Simrishamn will be closed throughout the weekend and will open again on Monday. Further affected routes included Halmstad-Helsingborg, Nässjö-Hultsfred, Hultsfred-Oskarshamn and Kalmar-Linköping . It is unclear when they will open again and replacement coaches have been deployed.

 

In northern, eastern and western Sweden all train lines are open.

 

Class 1 warnings have been removed in many areas across the country, except Gotland where very strong gusts are forecast. There remains a class 2 warning in place for very high water affecting the Öresund and Kattegat. SMHI warnings remained in place for Södermanland, Stockholm, Roslagen, Uppsala and the Uppland coast.

 

The high water levels off Sweden's west coast generated large waves on Friday night with one giant surge smashing a window in a seaside restaurant in Helsingborg. Some 120 guests had to flee when the water gushed into the dining area.

 

"There were waves all the time, and it felt like the Titanic when water gushed through the opening," said Anette Wiling, one of the restaurant's owners, to the local Helsingborgs Dagblad daily.