Cyclone Priska claims lives in Baltics and Belarus

The powerful Mediterranean cyclone “Prisca“, which formed over Southern Europe and passed through Poland, hit the Baltic states and Belarus hard. The storm killed at least two people, injured dozens and caused an unprecedented power outage, leaving over a million consumers in complete darkness.

Dark statistics and chaos in the Baltics

Hurricane winds with speeds of over 30 m/s (108 km/h) caused catastrophic damage in Lithuania and Latvia. According to the media network Украинская правда (pravda.com.ua), in the Anyksciai district of Lithuania, a falling tree killed a man on the spot, and hundreds of reports of blocked roads were registered in the capital Vilnius.

The situation in Latvia turned out to be even more critical. In the city of Jelgava, a person died after a building collapsed due to strong gusts. Public transport and trains in Riga were temporarily suspended, and the international airport in the capital redirected dozens of flights. The power grids in both countries suffered large-scale failures, cutting off power to nearly half a million households.

Massive blackout in Belarus and Poland

The passage of “Prisca“ through Belarus led to a state of emergency. According to the official report of the energy holding Belenergo (belta.by) and the Ministry of Energy, the squall wind, reaching 27 m/s, literally tore the overhead cable routes. The following were put out of action:

1876 transformer substations Over 200 high voltage transmission lines 659 settlements in Minsk, Vitebsk and Grodno regions

By the morning hours of August 23, hundreds of emergency teams were still working on the ground. The international news agency Deutsche Welle (dw.com) reports that the situation is also severe in Northeastern Poland (especially in the Białystok region), where 241 thousand people are also left without electricity, and a complete ban on bathing has been introduced on the Baltic coast due to dangerous waves.

Meteorologists predict that within today (August 23) the epicenter of “Prisca“ will shift towards Northwestern Russia, but the cool and windy rear part of the cyclone will keep the weather in Belarus and the Baltics unstable.