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'Hurricane' Katia fells trees, disrupts traffic

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'Hurricane' Katia fells trees, disrupts traffic

Trees were felled to the ground, train traffic was halted, and thousands were left without power as the remnants of Hurricane Katia swept through Sweden on Tuesday.

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The storm winds from Katia will linger in northern areas even on Wednesday, although meteorological office SMHI has downgraded its class one weather warning.

The storm swept in as expected over Sweden's west coast on Tuesday morning.

Strong winds brought down trees across rail tracks and overhead power lines. Well into Tuesday evening continued Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) working furiously to restore power and to get delayed trains back in the storm track.

Road traffic was also affected in some areas after trees fell across roads.

The wind also caused thousands of power outages in areas spanning Västra Götaland, Värmland, Örebro, Östergötland and Södermanland.

"When there are a lot of interruptions which succeed each other, it may eventually lead to congestion on the lines and that cause new disruptions," said Mary Lydzell at energy firm Vattenfall's press service.

The windy weather was expected to persist on Wednesday.

"It is moving quite slowly and quite deep. But it is going to ease off out by the west coast and then continue to slowdown as it pushes across the country, further east," said Emil Björck, meteorologist at SMHI.

Tuesday's storm peaked at around 3pm on the west coast with some islands experiencing average wind speed at 80 kilometres per hour with gusts up to 105 kilometres per hour.

The storm peaks at 90 kilometres per hour and a hurricane is defined as being above 115 kilometres per hour.

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