Air Traffic Resumes as Storm Hannes Leaves a Mark on Finland
Air travel is gradually returning to normal at airports in Finland’s north, specifically in Rovaniemi, Kittilä, and Ivalo, after a turbulent weekend of cancellations and delays prompted by Storm Hannes.
The storm swept across the country overnight, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and significantly impacting the operations of Elenia, the electricity network operator. Late Saturday night, powerful gusts toppled trees, severed power lines, and disrupted transportation networks, leading to Elenia experiencing its most significant outage in ten years.
Conditions began to stabilize by 9 AM Sunday, yet the repercussions of the storm lingered, especially in southwestern coastal areas where gale-force winds persisted. By Sunday morning, electricity was still out for over 105,000 households—a stark drop from a peak of more than 180,000 who had lost power. Emergency services along the western coast have been inundated with more than a thousand storm-related incidents.
While air traffic resumes, neighboring Sweden faced its own challenges, with numerous train and ferry services cancelled and bridges temporarily closed due to the severe weather conditions.
Images from the scene convey the storm’s ferocity: at Kittilä Airport, strong winds pushed both a passenger aircraft and a light plane into a snowbank. Meanwhile, Rovaniemi Airport faced numerous delays and cancellations, all depicted against the backdrop of trees downed by the storm’s relentless force. In Ulvila, a tree fell onto a car, serving as a stark reminder of the storm’s widespread impact.
As Finland begins to recover, the resilience of emergency services and the restoration of infrastructure will be put to the test once again.