Over the weekend, a powerful winter storm named Hannes ❄️ swept through Finland's Lapland region, grounding flights ✈️ and leaving hundreds of travelers snowed in.
Finavia, the state-owned airport operator, said about 20 flights to and from Rovaniemi were cancelled or delayed. The airports of Kittila and Ivalo suspended operations for several hours before flights resumed late Saturday evening.
By Monday, around 1,000 travelers were still waiting for flights out of Lapland. To ease overcrowding at Rovaniemi airport, Finavia reopened an older, out-of-service terminal, and the Finnish Red Cross supplied blankets and mattresses for those overnighting at the airport.
With Lapland in its peak winter tourism season, hotel rooms were scarce. Henri Hansson, Finavia's senior vice president for regional airports, noted that airlines must arrange replacement transport and temporary accommodation when flights are disrupted. He added that Lapland's remote, seasonal nature makes it tough to secure standby aircraft on short notice.
Known for its snow-covered landscapes, ski resorts and Santa Claus attractions, Lapland's contingency plans came under scrutiny. Sanna Karkkainen, CEO of Visit Rovaniemi, told Lapin Kansa that the region needs to strengthen preparedness for increasingly extreme weather events.
The storm also wreaked havoc on electricity networks and rail services in Finland and Sweden 🚂🔌. Power company Elenia reported the worst structural damage to lines in a decade. At Saturday's peak, about 190,000 households in Finland were without power, and tens of thousands remained offline on Monday. In Sweden, outages affected roughly 50,000 homes.
Rail operator VR said long-distance trains were delayed by up to seven hours, impacting around 10,000 customers. Swedish media reported three fatalities from falling trees, while no similar incidents were recorded in Finland.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
