Storm Boelo swept into Sweden on Sunday with wind gusts of over 20 metres per second, forcing Trafikverket to cancel trains on several routes and leaving thousands of ferry passengers facing delays.
SMHI issued seven yellow warnings for wind on land, stretching from Strömstad down the west coast, past the southern tip of the country and up the east coast to eastern Västernorrland. At Vinga in the Gothenburg archipelago winds reached 27 metres per second on Sunday morning. The highest reading so far came at Nidingen off Kungsbacka in Halland, where gusts were measured at 29.1 metres per second.
"It's definitely a windy day," said Erik Höjgård-Olsen, meteorologist at SMHI.
Trains were cancelled on the Karlskrona–Emmaboda, Kristianstad–Karlskrona, Kil–Torsby and Gothenburg–Herrljunga–Mariestad routes. Traffic between Kristianstad and Karlskrona was closed until 15:00, with buses replacing trains. Trees fell across several roads, including the E45 from St Berga to Avelsäter, road 3024 from Lagerfors bruk to Nolängen and road 535 from Öjersjö to the Furulund roundabout.
Destination Gotland postponed 15 departures, with the first ferry now scheduled to leave Visby at 20:00 on Sunday evening. The company said 5,000 travellers were affected, and around 2,500 participants in the Gotland Grand Prix, described as the world's largest enduro competition, were stranded on the island.
"This is weather-dependent. It's force majeure," said communications officer Adam Jacobsson at Destination Gotland.
Stena Line said the ferry Estelle would arrive four hours late in Karlskrona, at 23:00. Västtrafik warned of delays and cancelled departures until Monday at 18:00, and traffic was also expected to be affected on Tuesday.
"We expect things to be back to normal on Wednesday," said HĂĄkan Johansson, CEO of Destination Gotland.
What to do
- Official crisis information in English: Krisinformation.se.
- Emergency: 112. Non-urgent information about accidents and crises: 113 13.
Based on reporting by Aftonbladet, SVT and Dagens Nyheter.