TALLINN, July 11 (Xinhua) -- A thunderstorm sweeping across Estonia on Saturday left more than 8,000 households without electricity at the peak of the outage.
Estonian public broadcaster ERR reported, citing electricity distribution operator Elektrilevi, that the outage mainly affected eastern, northeastern and southeastern Estonia, with Virumaa among the hardest-hit areas. As the storm moved westward, Elektrilevi said it was still unclear how many additional outages could occur in western Estonia.
Elektrilevi deployed 20 repair staffers to eastern, northeastern and southeastern Estonia after the thunderstorms had passed through the region. Additional crew were assigned for the weekend, while the company's network control center was operating with reinforced staffing.
Elektrilevi chief Mihkel Harm said repair teams had been working throughout the evening and were expected to continue overnight. Some faults were unlikely to be repaired until Sunday morning, he said.
The Estonian Environment Agency issued a Level 2 thunderstorm warning for a large part of the country, warning of thunderstorms, strong wind gusts and hail. The warning remained in effect until midnight on Saturday.
The storm appeared to be weakening later in the evening, but Elektrilevi said eastern Estonia, particularly Virumaa, had suffered the most serious impact.
