Heavy rain — with some locations receiving the average monthly rainfall in the space of 24 hours — and strong winds swept across Estonia over the weekend, bringing down trees, causing power outages and disrupting ferry services.

The weather warning has been downgraded to Level 1 (yellow) in western and southern Estonia as of Sunday morning. Eastern Estonia – Ida-Viru, Lääne-Viru, Järva, Jõgeva and Tartu counties – are now not subject to the warning and the weather map is showing green as of the time of writing.

Heavy rain is to continue over Estonia on Sunday morning, with 24-hour totals of 50–70 millimeters and up to 90 millimeters in some areas. These higher figures are roughly the same as the overall average rainfall for August, usually the wettest month, in Estonia.

Wind gusts reached as high as 30 meters per second on Saturday and the Rescue Board (Päästeamet) has been notified of fallen trees on roads and power lines.

The storm also left households without power: On Saturday evening, 3,410 households were without power according to Elektrilevi. As of 9 a.m. Sunday, that figure had fallen to around 2,600, though around half the outages were in southeastern Estonia.

Heavy rainfall of 50–100 millimeters overnight threatened Tallinn's sewage and drainage system, and Tallinna Vesi issued flood prevention advice, including clearing gutters, avoiding parking in flood-prone areas, and reducing water use during the rain.

Urmas Kütt, head of pipeline operations at Tallinna Vesi, noted that during and immediately after heavy rain, the public should avoid using large amounts of water to avoid placing additional strain on the wastewater system. Stormwater should not be directed into the sewer network to avoid overloading the system, and Kütt stressed people should avoid flooded basements and manholes due to electrocution and other hazards.

Rescue Board gets 250 callouts

Rescuers were called out 250 times across Estonia as a result of the storm and its effects, with western Estonia and on the western Estonian islands accounting for nearly half these: Rescuers were needed on 121 occasions in this region. Rescuers responded to 65 storm-related incidents in northern Estonia, 49 in southern Estonia and 15 in eastern Estonia. Most callouts involved removing fallen trees and branches from roads and there have been no known serious incidents nor injuries.

Ferry services were subject to cancellation during the storm but are back online as of Sunday morning. The 8.30 a.m. sailing from Rohuküla to Heltermaa (Hiiumaa) went ahead, and the 10 a.m. service in the other direction is also on schedule. No changes to the Virtsu to Kuivastu (Muhu/Saaremaa) route timetable are currently expected.

The storm also hit Latvia and Lithuania. Latvia's weather service issued a storm warning, outdoor events were canceled and roads were flooded in several places. In Riga, water accumulated beneath viaducts, disrupting traffic. According to Lithuanian media, at least one person was killed after being struck by a falling tree and over 150,000 households were left without power.

Trains coming from Latvia, Lithuania disrupted

The conditions in Latvia and Lithuania disrupted cross-border train schedules, with delays affecting services to both Tallinn and Tartu. "The train which departed Vilnius early this morning will arrive in Riga nearly an hour and a half behind schedule, which will also cause delays all the way to Tartu and Tallinn," Elron spokesperson Kristo Mäe said Sunday.

Mäe added that storm‑downed trees on tracks between Riga and Valga were causing further delays. Elron advises passengers to check its website for real‑time updates. In the opposite direction, trains departing Estonia for Latvia and Lithuania are currently running on schedule.
 

Editor's note: This piece was updated to include statistics on rescue callouts and information on train travel disruption.

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