Thousands of people have been evacuated and a power plant has been flooded following heavy floods in Norway, authorities in the Scandinavian country said on Wednesday.
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“We are living through a crisis of national proportions,” said Odd Hoff, chief of Inlandet County (South), hardest hit by the floods and landslides that hit the south of the country. 115 roads were affected by this bad weather.
“We need help from society as a whole. Today we will succeed or we will fail,” he added.
We have never seen such high levels of flooding in so many rivers. Forecasts indicate that floods will continue to increase in major rivers,” for his part, Erik Holmqvist, an official at the Energy and Water Agency, told VG newspaper.
The government said seven helicopters had been deployed to help evacuate residents.
There are many evacuees, many people have been affected and great material damage has been done. Justice and Public Security Minister Emily Inger Mehl warned the situation is very difficult in a large part of the country.
Photo: AFP
The Praskrydfoss hydroelectric power station, located on the banks of the country’s longest river Gloma, was flooded after its valves failed to open.
Norwegian electricity company Hafslund said the dam’s generators stopped working in the early hours of Wednesday morning after the grid at the station went out.
“The automated system should allow the valves to open if closed,” the company said, adding that at this point it was not possible to determine why that system was not working.
Photo: AFP
Hafslund explained in her statement that torrents then flooded the facility, rendering it inoperative and causing property damage.
Shortly after 4:00 PM (2:00 PM GMT), a dam in the dam gave way under the pressure of the water and began to flood.
Photo: AFP
As the storm dubbed Hans has passed since the weekend, Norway and Sweden are facing heavy rains that have caused floods and landslides.
