Up to 80,000 households in Finland were without power and traffic was disrupted as the country's first major snowstorm of the season brought strong winds, the Finnish Meteorological Institute told AFP.
Storm Jari arrived in Finland on November 20, with winds reaching up to 25 metres per second a day later, accompanied by heavy snow and precipitation in the Nordic country.
Severe weather conditions resulted in 80 000 households losing electricity overnight, although power was restored to many of them on the morning of 21 November.
"The storm is currently strongest in southern and western Finland and northern parts of the Bothnian Sea," said Jani Parviäinen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).
Describing the huge amount of power outages as "remarkable", Parviäinen stated that Jari was "one of the strongest storms in several years".
The bad weather led to several road accidents and damage to forests.
Fallen trees affected rail traffic, with national rail company VR urging passengers to "prepare for delays and possible cancellations".
Several flights were cancelled or delayed at Helsinki airport and ferries arriving in the capital struggled to dock due to rough seas and sea water levels significantly higher than normal.
"Winds are expected to ease across Finland in the next 24 hours," Parviäinen said. | BGNES
