The storm, dubbed Asta, which hit eastern and central parts of Finland early Friday, is estimated to have caused 20 million euros worth of damage. Farmers and forest owners have been severely affected. Thousands of homes still remain without electricity on Tuesday.
Authorities criticized for poor information management
Finland’s Interior Ministry admits that domestic rescue teams are not adequately equipped nor trained to manage extreme episodes. There are not enough resources available to cope in extreme situations, it says.
Some people caught in the eye of the storm were left stranded for days without sufficient information as to how rescue operations were progressing.
Riitta-Liisa Peltonen and her husband were stranded in their summer cottage for three days after the storm. “The worst thing was that we couldn’t find out how long we were going to be stranded, and didn’t know how the rescue work was progressing. It felt like the rescue operations didn’t have any management set in place. It would have been good to get a hotline number to call for information, or local radio could have announced what number one could dial for help, and announce that the common emergency line was inundated with calls.”
The Peltomaas' isolation came to an end after the region’s road committee arranged clearing trucks to help them.
