The snow was worse than expected: Umeå struggles to keep roads open
Heavy snow has overwhelmed Umeå’s clearing plans, forcing crews to prioritise access for emergency vehicles as conditions worsen across the city.
Much of the precipitation had been forecast to fall as rain. Instead, snow piled up overnight and continued falling on Friday, leaving the municipality facing substantially more than it had prepared for, SVT reports.
Plans to focus on pavements and cycle paths have been overtaken by the need to clear streets for emergency services. Municipal street maintenance chief Per Hilmersson said all available resources were working, but crews who had been out since Thursday also needed rest.
Pedestrians, cyclists and drivers should expect difficult journeys. The heavy snow is slowing the clearance effort, and Hilmersson said crews would not manage to remove it all by Friday evening.
The next concern is Saturday’s expected drop in temperature: snow left behind could freeze solid, making an already difficult situation harder to resolve, he told SVT.
DailySweden
DailySweden's desk of editors, reporters, researchers and investigative journalists. We bring readers factual, truthful and objective reporting on the issues that matter to them.