The storm that hit Lithuania this week has brought down over 50,000 trees in forests, the State Forest Enterprise (VMU) said on Thursday. Foresters are still eliminating the consequences of the disaster.
Most of the trees were uprooted in the northern part of the country, it said. The estimated volume of broken wood to be cleared is around 30,000 cubic metres.
Foresters are currently dealing with the aftermath of the storm and warn that high winds can cause large trees to snap and branches to fall, making it particularly dangerous to walk in forests or to stand or park cars under tall trees.
“On August 6-7, we witnessed a severe storm across Lithuania, which not only did damage to the population, the infrastructure of towns and cities, but also to forests. Our assessments show that as much as 2,000 hectares of forests were damaged. In some places, individual trees were broken or uprooted, while in others, several hectares were completely destroyed,” says Valdas Kaubrė, director general of the VMU.
“Joniškis, as well as the Kuršėnai, Trakai and Nemenčinė regional divisions were particularly affected,” he added.
According to the head of the VMU, the first priority is to clear the roads covered with trees.
Spruce forests are the most severely affected by strong winds, as spruce trees have shallow roots and are easily uprooted. Meanwhile, pine forests are more resilient to uprooting because of stronger and deeper roots. However, pine trees are more often snapped in half by strong winds.
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