Big winter storm forces Klaipėda port to close to ships

With strong winds showing no signs of abating on Wednesday, the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda kept restrictions on ship traffic in place.

“Ship traffic remains restricted. According to the latest data, the wind is currently blowing in gusts of 21 and, in some places, of 26 meters per second,” Nijole Dvarionaitė-Milkintienė, a spokeswoman for the port, told BNS.

The wind was forecast to subside by Wednesday night, she said, adding that four vessels were now waiting to enter the port and another four vessels were waiting to leave it.

The strong winds have left 10,000 homes across Lithuania without electricity.

Martynas Burba,a spokesman for Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius (Energy Distribution Operator, or ESO), told BNS that 4,200 customers without power in the Kaunas region, 2,300 were in the Vilnius region, 1,800 were in the Siauliai region and 1,700 were in the Klaipeda region.

“The outages were mostly caused by trees and branches falling onto power lines due to the gusting winds,” he said.

ESO crews were working to restore power as fast as possible, he said.