Storm Gudrun

How can we become better at dealing with natural catastrophes? When storm Gudrun struck a large area of southern Sweden on 8th January;2005, it put the functions of society and the Swedish electricity distribution;system to a severe test. The work of restoring electricity supplies started immediately. Nevertheless,;some electricity customers in sparsely populated areas were without;power for up to six weeks. The storm blew down large parts of the overhead line distribution system,;leaving 730 000 customers without power. The long periods without;power showed just how vulnerable society is to more serious disturbances. A;particular problem, which exacerbated others, was that telecommunications;stopped working. Much has been learnt by the providers of various services in society, by;companies and by individuals. This publication describes what happened,;what the effects were and what those working in the energy sector have learnt;from the most serious natural disaster to strike Sweden in recent times.

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