– It was like a busy winter day – VG

– It has been like a busy winter day, you can safely say, and there is a lot of precipitation that creates problems. There is a lot of wind and a lot of rain, says traffic operator Bente Nyland in Vegtrafikksentralen Nord to VG just after 05.30 on Tuesday morning.

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration, among other things, has moved a large number of felled trees on the roads of Nordland and Troms.

At Ramfjord in Troms, a landslide has caused the E8 to close, while strong winds have caused the closure of Fylkesvei 82 over Kjølhagen in Andøy municipality.

– There has been a very strong wind – the gusts have been 47 to 48 meters per second, says Nyland.

On Monday, debris from Tropical Storm “Sally” devastated much of Nordland and Troms. Up to 100 millimeters of precipitation had been announced in advance for a day and alerts for floods and landslides have been sent out. By late Monday night, the center of the storm had barely reached Troms.

– The worst awaits us in Troms. In the coming hours, there will be strong local winds inland and along the coast, state meteorologist Kjersti Strand told VG on Monday night.

The strongest wind is south of the low pressure center and an orange hazard warning was sent Monday for very strong wind gusts, up to 30-35 meters per second. An orange warning has also been sent for a lot of rain in Troms.

Encourage motorists to keep up

Uusimaa in Vegtrafikksentralen Nord encourages motorists to follow the traffic reports beyond Tuesday. In several places in its catchment area, it has also snowed on Tuesday night: on the E6 over Saltfjellet, Riksvei 77 on Graddis and on Fylkesvei 813 on Beiarfjellet.

– If the weather is very bad and there is a strong wind, there is always danger with loose objects. Large amounts of precipitation are scary in landslide-prone areas too, and you should always do a weather assessment before driving, she says.

Troms police have also had several weather-related assignments through Tuesday night, and they expect the storm to continue to increase during the day.

– For the moment, things are going well, but we will have to look further, Operations Manager Eirik Kileng tells VG at 05.15 am

Among other things, they moved to Ramfjord after the landslide over parts of the E8.

– The landslide has disappeared because the ground cannot carry the large amounts of water. There is so much breaking edge and so much new precipitation that we have chosen to keep the road closed, says the operations manager, saying the landslide was discovered when an ambulance got stuck.

Both the patient and the ambulance staff did well, but the car had to be rescued.

– Otherwise we have some trees that have collapsed and some power lines that are gone. There are also some closed roads around.

Parts of sports facilities demolished

At 9:00 pm on Monday night, Troms police were notified that parts of the wall of a sports facility in Bardufoss had been knocked down.

– In connection with a repair we are doing on the roof, we have removed parts of the roof. This, combined with the wind, blew away part of the north wall tonight, Bardufoss Storhall general manager Erling Andreassen tells VG.

Andreassen was in the hallway when parts of the wall were ripped off.

– There was training inside the room when this happened and for many it may have been a very unpleasant experience, he says.

It says that no one was injured during the incident.

– There is a lot of material damage. But we haven’t received an overview of the scope, he says.

Evacuated homes

In Troms, no one has been evacuated or isolated as a result of the storm, but in Nordland, around 1,200 people in Rana Township have been isolated.

Nordland police also had to evacuate five houses due to high water levels in the area. Evacuees are cared for in hotels.

– It is not pleasant when people have to pack their things and leave, but we take no chances. We don’t yet know how much it will increase, said the operations manager in the Nordland police district, Kai Eriksen.

Due to heavy rains, the Ranelva river overflowed and landslides have occurred in several places.

– Most of the incidents are associated with the Ranelva where the water level rose very quickly. Now we wait for it to drop to normal values ​​so we can reopen, he says.

Due to heavy rains, the E6 is closed at Storforshei north of Helgeland in Nordland. The Ranelva divided Norway in two.

At 9 pm on Monday night, the road traffic control center reports that the road is open again.