Johannes, which passed over northern and central Sweden on Saturday, killed three people, left 40,000 households without power and felled forests to an unknown extent. This, together with record-breaking winds, makes the storm the most severe this year, according to SMHI .
The storm subsided on Sunday, but as of late Tuesday afternoon, around 6,000 customers of the electricity companies Ellevio, Eon and Vattenfall were still without power. The worst-affected area was Gävleborg County.
SMHI has issued an orange warning for heavy snowfall combined with wind in the southern coastal region of Norrland.
The warning is in effect from noon on New Year's Day until 6 a.m. Friday. Locally, between two and four decimeters of snow are expected to fall.
Extreme situation
The snow will fall over an area where work is in full swing to clear forests and repair power lines.
So far it looks like it's fairly cold, which means the snow is light. It's much better than wet snow, which would be very bad in this situation, says Jonatan Björck, press communicator at Ellevio.
He says that the snowfall will in any case affect the accessibility of the staff and the pace at which they can work.
It is not inconceivable that there will also be new power outages when trees that are leaning slightly get snow on them and fall.
On Tuesday afternoon, Ellevio has approximately 3,600 subscribers without power in Gävleborg County.
The work is progressing. But the situation is extreme, says Jonatan Björck.
He is referring to the number of trees that have been blown down.
In just a few hundred meters, there are hundreds of trees over the power lines. It's an electrical network that is largely broken.
The worst affected is Hälsingland and the municipality of Bollnäs, according to him.
When we fly over with a helicopter and drone, we get images that I haven't seen in Sweden since storm Gudrun.
Dark New Year's Eve
It may take several days before everyone has electricity back.
"We will of course work around the clock tomorrow as well. But the power will not be back on for everyone on New Year's Eve," says Jonatan Björck.
Eon has nearly 1,400 customers without power on Tuesday afternoon, half in Gästrikland and half in Västernorrland County. The company is offering compensation for hotel accommodation for permanent subscribers who did not have their electricity restored on Wednesday morning, according to a press release.
Vattenfall had 700 affected customers in the afternoon, mainly in Uppland and Gästrikland.
Facts: Weather warnings
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SMHI has three levels of weather warnings:
Yellow warning: Consequences for society, some risk to the public.
Orange warning: Serious consequences for society, danger to the public.
Red warning: Very serious consequences for society, great danger to the public.
