When the very strong wind came to Harstad on Thursday morning, roof parts came loose from the hospital.
According to the rescue workers, interviewed by Harstad Tidende on the same day, around 1,600 square meters of the roof on the 7th floor was torn away by the extreme weather.
On Friday, UNN Harstad reports that an inspection has revealed significant damage and still a lot of loose material.
– It will take a minimum of three to four months to repair the damage, warns UNN Harstad.
Therefore, the helipad will be closed indefinitely. In the meantime, the helicopter landing pad at Stangnes, five kilometers away from the hospital, is being used.
The roof at UNN Harstad has suffered extensive damage after the storm Ingunn.
Photo: Eirik Hind Sveen / NRK
This is in stark contrast to what operations manager at UNN Harstad Gina Johansen said to NRK earlier in the day:
– We can hopefully open during the morning. But we must be sure that all loose parts have been removed, Johansen told NRK.
The helicopter landing pad is flushed and cleared.
Photo: NRK-tipser / NRK
The hospital was on red alert for several hours, and the police cordoned off the area around the hospital. Neither staff nor patients were allowed to leave the hospital while the weather was at its worst.
Some areas in northern Norway are also without electricity, and some villages are isolated with closed roads.
– I was afraid
Kjell Birger Isaksen was hospitalized at UNN Harstad when the storm hit on Thursday.
– Many were scared, plates and Styrofoam were flying around the whole hospital. I had a view of the sea, but it was not possible to see out. It was just chaos, says Isaksen.
During his 74 years, he has not experienced such fierce weather in Harstad.
– There was a lot of noise, and a lot of pounding when the plates hit the walls and windows. We were told to pull down the windows. I was scared, says Isaksen.
Kjell Birger Isaksen was hospitalized at UNN in Harstad when the extreme weather “Ingunn” took half the roof with it.
Photo: Per Inge Åsen / NRK
Approximately 800 square meters of a total of 1,600 of the roof disappeared in the wind. The remains of the roof were strewn about in the area around the hospital.
– The damage is extensive. We have had personnel at work late into the night to clean and secure the roof. Today, our main focus is on surveying damage and securing the building so that we avoid consequential damage, says the operations manager.
Thursday wrote Harstad Newspaper that in addition to the roof itself, a grate on a ventilation shaft at the top of the hospital building was also blown away by the extreme weather “Ingunn”.
The first hired craftsmen from the company Volt arrived at twelve o’clock. Later in the day, more people came to “rescue”.
– I think it’s great to be hired for an assignment of this type, it’s good advertising for the company. It is very fresh and nice to work on the roof, craftsman Kim Isaksen told the newspaper.
It has started to leak in the upper floors of UNN Harstad after the storm Ingunn removed large parts of the roof.
Photo: Eirik Hind Steen / NRK
Had to spend the night at the airport
Air traffic in northern Norway has also been affected by the storm. At Tromsø Airport, many passengers had to spend the night due to canceled and postponed flights.
On Friday morning, several planes are in the air again, but there are still many passengers waiting to get off.
– I have never experienced so many people being stranded at the airport, says airport manager Ivar Helsing Schrøen to NRK.
The following departures have been postponed and canceled in Tromsø:
Expand/minimize fact box
- 06:15 Oslo – New time 12:10
- 08:15 – Oslo – Cancelled
- 08:20 Lakselv – New time 11:40
- 08:30 Bodø – New time 09:00
- 08:30 Stokmarknes – New time 09:00
- 09:05 Paris – New time 09:50
- 09:10 Helsinki – Cancelled
- 09:25 Oslo – New time 10:40
- 10:20 Bodø – New time 10:30
- Check avinor.no
Massive data breach
Norwegian health network had two ongoing errors on the very important data lines between the hospitals in Tromsø and Bodø on Thursday. They operate the services helsenorge.no, core journal and e-prescription. Two out of three available routing paths for data were out of service – probably due to the storm.
One of the errors was repaired on Thursday. Correction of the last error takes place on Friday.
– With an alternative route and 1 out of 2 faults corrected, the main network is back in normal operation. We follow the remaining error further via normal case flow, writes Norwegian health network Friday. .
Roads are still closed in Troms.
Several villages isolated
– We have several county roads that are closed after the storm. Right now the European roads and national roads are open in Troms, says Håvard Langmo at the Vegtrafikksentralen to NRK.
On Friday morning, several villages were still isolated. Ytre Aune north of Harstad, the village of Å south of Senja and Tamokdalen are among the villages that have not yet had their main road opened.
– We ask people to be patient and follow the Road Administration’s traffic announcements, says Langmo.
The extreme weather “Ingunn” has caused extensive damage to the clubhouse of the Medkila ski team, which is only a few hundred meters from the hospital.
Photo: Henrik Einangshaug / NRK
A number of road sections in Finnmark were also closed. Villages in Nordkapp and Lebesby are isolated.
In addition, main roads over Børselvfjellet and Ifjordfjellet are still closed.
Parts of Senja and Balsfjord were still without power on Friday morning.
Photo: Screenshot Arva
Several thousand without electricity in Northern Norway
The situation in Troms is that we have 383 customers without electricity, says William Pedersen at the operations center of the network company Arva.
Arva has located the fault in two of three main places where the power is out.
– We are working on error correction and it will most likely last throughout the day. During the day, we imagine that we have improved this to a large extent, says Pedersen.
Two areas out on Senja, and in Balsfjord.
In addition, the online company reports Noranett in Sør-Troms that 18 electricity customers are without access to the electricity grid in Rolla in Ibestad municipality and Grytøy north of Harstad.
In Nord-Troms, the online company Vissa reports, according to Framtid i Nordthat 144 electricity customers on two islands in Skjervøy are still without electricity after the storm.
Area department Nordkyn reports on Facebook that there is a fault on the line between Hopseidet and Skjånes.
They now have crews out working on troubleshooting.
There are also errors on the high-voltage disconnection to Kåven in Gamvik. Here, the network company advises customers who have half voltage to disconnect electrical items.
Power problems on Andøya and Lofoten
For a period, the whole of Andøya was also without power on Thursday, with 4,000 electricity customers. Most people on the island have now received power back.
The network company Noranett has been working throughout the night, says mayor Kjell Are Johansen.
– They have had a new pole point erected. And they are in the process of connecting customers back. Now about 900 are without power.
The situation in Lofoten has been dramatic. But the online company Elma has now gained partial control of the situation.
There are still 976 electricity customers in Lofoten, mainly on the outer side of Vestvågøy, and areas by Stamsund, still disconnected from the electricity grid.