Northwest Iceland’s largest town, Sauðárkrókur, has been without power for over two hours due to extreme weather. Other towns in North Iceland have also faced outages due to power lines being damaged by wind, ice, and snow. A storm bringing hurricane force winds and blizzard conditions is raging across the country, and residents and tourists are being advised to stay put until Wednesday evening.
Landsnet, responsible for Iceland’s electricity transmission, reported at 5.50pm that attempts to restore power to Sauðárkrókur’s roughly 2,600 residents had not been successful. Staff were on their way to examine the damaged line and attempts to provide reserve power were being considered.
Northwest Iceland Police’s Tetra radio system, used to communicate with emergency services, is also out of commission due to the storm, RÚV reports. Stefán Vagn Stefánsson, the region’s Assistant Police Commissioner, stated however that the disturbance did not pose significant problems.
One power line to Akureyri, North Iceland’s largest town, is also out of commission, leaving only one functioning line to power the town. As storm conditions are expected to worsen into the night, Landsnet employees (seen below) may have a long night ahead of them.
