Heavy rain from the storm sweeping northern Norway has flooded homes, basements and commercial buildings in Sortland, in the Vesterålen islands, the Norwegian broadcaster NRK reports.
Water surged out of drains and into buildings in the town centre, leaving several lifts and the main electricity intakes of some buildings under water. Lodve Riise, incident commander for the local fire and rescue service, described the situation as critical, saying crews could barely keep up with call-outs and had brought in extra pumping equipment from Harstad. He warned that water reaching fuse boxes could cause lasting damage.
A state meteorologist said the worst was probably over in Nordland, with the rain expected to ease overnight, although gusts of around 35 metres per second were still being recorded at Nordkapp in Finnmark.
Source: NRK
