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WEATHER

Torrential rain causes road closures, evacuations and damage across Norway

Severe weather caused havoc across Norway on Sunday and Monday, with property and roads damaged and traffic delays in several areas.

Published: 24 July 2017 13:45 CEST
Torrential rain causes road closures, evacuations and damage across Norway
File photo of the E6 in Gudbrandsdalen. Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB scanpix

The E6 motorway in Norway’s Gudbrandsdalen region between the towns of Kvam and Frya was closed for several hours on Monday morning after a downpour of up to 70mm of rain.

A bridge also collapsed in the Sogn og Fjordane county, making evacuations necessary, reports broadcaster NRK.

Weather conditions were treacherous in both the eastern and western parts of southern Norway during the morning, according to the report.

The E39 road was also closed near the (Hornindalsvatnet) lake, but has now been reopened, while the E6 closure is expected to cause traffic problems throughout the day.

After water broke through a local road near the village of Harpefoss, a dam was created above the E6. Authorities then had to work to prevent water breaking through and flooding the motorway, according to the report.

 “Two excavators are working at the scene to keep the situation in check and experts are on their way to assess how best to manage it,” press officer Øystein Skotte of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen) told NRK.

The E6 opened again at 12:15pm, according to NRK's report.

“70 millimetres of rain fell during the night and it has had serious results for local roads,” maintenance operator Tom Erik Amundsen of the Sør-Fron municipality told NRK.

Sogn og Fjordane county suffered extensive localised damage, with houses flooded and smaller buildings, including a garage, washed into the fjord.

A flooded river has also destroyed a bridge and closed off local road 60.

A thunderstorm Sunday afternoon saw damage to Tronfjellveien, Norway’s highest road, which leads to the Tronfjellet mountain in Hedmark.

Metre-deep holes in the road appeared after the storm, according to the report.

“The road looks rough. Huge stones have been dislodged and there is not a metre of road clear up to the top,” witness Jarle Tronslien told NRK.

WEATHER

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Summer is finally here! Or least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C by Thursday, according to forecasts.

Published: 30 April 2024 08:42 CEST
Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Warm air from southern Europe will combine with a high pressure zone which will bring clear skies and sunshine, with summery weather coming towards the end of the week, Norway’s national weather forecaster Yr has reported. 

“Thursday and Friday especially will be nice,” Ingrid Villa, a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told the public broadcaster NRK. “Then we will probably get temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius in some places.” 

Patches of 20C warmth are expected both in western Norway around Bergen and in Western Norway around Oslo, with the area around Tromsø expected to have slightly cooler weather, although Villa said that “it will absolutely be something like summer there too”. 

The warm sunny weather is, however, expected to pass northern Norway by, with grey overcast skies expected for much of this week. 

But if you think summer has come to Norway to stay, you risk disappointment as much cooler temperatures are expected next week.  

“There’s nothing unusual in getting an early taste of summer in April and the start of May, and then we can quickly go back to cooler more spring-like weather,” Villa said. 

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