A powerful cyclone hit Latvia and Lithuania, leaving two people dead and half a million people without electricity.
A powerful cyclone brought heavy rain and strong winds to Latvia and Lithuania over the weekend, resulting in two deaths and significant infrastructure damage. One person died in Jelgava, Latvia, when a building collapsed, while another person died in Lithuania after being hit by a falling tree. The storm, described as the most severe in Latvia since 2005, left over 250,000 people in Latvia without electricity and disrupted mobile services. In Lithuania, more than 200,000 residents lost power. Northeastern Poland also experienced power outages for over 100,000 people. The cyclone caused widespread disruptions to public transport, including delayed flights at Riga airport and delayed trains from neighboring countries. Andris Viksna of the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Center stated that while it is difficult to be certain, human-caused climate change may have intensified the rainfall. Conditions were expected to be expected to improve by Monday.