Mud and fallen trees after extreme weather struck Hans Valdres, near Oslo, Norway, on August 8. NTB/Cornelius Poppe
OSLO, Aug 9 (Reuters) – A dam on a Norwegian river partially collapsed after heavy rain on Wednesday, causing water to gush out through a wide gap in the structure, with the prime minister saying the country should be prepared for more flooding in the coming days. .
The Braskereidfoss power dam on the Glomma river, Norway’s largest waterway, was unable to open its hatches after its control room was flooded.
Norway has evacuated more than 3,000 people this week as rivers rose to their highest levels in at least 50 years, and homes and businesses were submerged or swept away by landslides.
Main roads have been closed and train services suspended in large parts of southern Norway as rivers burst their banks, with authorities warning of more flooding in the coming days as water moves towards lower-lying coastal regions.
“The next two or three days will be absolutely critical and we will be mobilizing around the clock,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference.
RIVER FLOWS ARE NORMALIZED
Water levels at the Braskereidfoss dam then subsided, flowing in a controlled manner and preventing major flooding downstream, a police spokesman said.
Police earlier considered blowing up one of the 45-year-old dam’s hatches to help relieve the water pressure, but decided against it because the explosion would have been difficult to control.
A railway bridge collapsed on the line connecting Oslo to Trondheim, Norway’s third-largest city, but there was no danger as trains had been suspended since Monday.
Innlandet county, one of the hardest-hit areas in Norway, said many people were cut off by flooding and rescuers may not be able to reach those in need.
“We are in an emergency of national dimensions,” Innlandet Mayor Aud Hove said in a statement.
The government mobilized more helicopters on Wednesday to take part in the evacuations, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security said.
Strong winds, heavy rain and landslides have hit different parts of the Nordic region in recent days, bringing down power lines in Finland, flooding towns in Norway and Sweden and paralyzing public transport in the worst affected areas.
On Monday, a Swedish train derailed when a railway embankment was washed away by floodwaters, injuring three people.
Authorities in Norway and Sweden maintained red alerts, their most severe flood warnings, for several regions on Wednesday.
Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Victoria Klesty; Edited by Alexandra Hudson, John Stonestreet, Angus MacSwan, and Sandra Maler
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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