Storms, torrential rains and severe weather have led to more calls and missions for the Bergen fire service.
Extreme: Frode Lie, emergency director for the Bergen Fire Service, feels it has been more extreme in recent years. Photography: Rano Tahseen / TV 2
– On Sunday, we had as many as 40 tasks. We’re testing the weather more and more, and we’re getting an incredible number of missions, Bergen Fire Service’s emergency manager, Frode Lie, tells TV 2.
They’ve noticed that when a storm first comes in, it hits really hard.
– In recent years, extreme situations have become more frequent.
Sunday morning, up to 100 mm of rain fell in western Norway.
Creates some challenges for emergency preparedness when a storm first arrives. We note that landslides and floods occur very often, which leads to serious consequences, says Li.
Plenty of water: In western Norway it rained up to 100mm at the end of the week. Photography: Soroush Sadat / TV2
I’m not surprised
Climate scientist Hans-Olaf Heijn isn’t surprised by the fire service’s experiences.
– This is consistent with what we see in the numbers. The main picture we see is that there will be more rain in Norway, and the growth will happen as the more extreme events become more frequent and more intense.
He says the reason for the increase in precipitation is climate change and rising temperatures.
More rain: We should prepare for more rain in the future, says climate researcher Hans-Olaf Heijn, at the Institute of Meteorology. Photo: Ingvild Gjerdsjø/TV 2
The simple explanation is that warm air can hold more moisture than cold air. This means that when it starts to rain, there is more water vapor available in the air.
Hygen says long-term projections show we should prepare for 30 to 50 percent more rain in the future.
– We have already noticed this pattern, there is an increase in these incidents and we expect more to come, says Hygen.
Strong increase
The insurance company If also noted a sharp increase in precipitation.
Communications director Sigmund Clements says they received 50 water damage cases from western Norway on Sunday, with 20 of them from the Bergen region.
The increase: Sigmund Clementz says that in recent years, there have been many incidents of water damage. Photo: Kilian Munch
– The number of water damages in Norway caused by floods or heavy rains has risen sharply in recent decades. We expect not to stop here, but there will be more of this type of incident, says Clements.
It is stated that the matter is primarily related to the interference of water in residential buildings, but some commercial buildings are also affected. Water also entered some of their rooftops.
Bergen Fire Service encourages everyone to be good at cleaning grates and making sure the water has room to spread.
Some tasks could have been avoided if people were more restrained and made sure to clear up space, says mission leader Frode-Lee.
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