Now the ice melts around Ellen

Sjusjøen resident and NVE’s local rainfall grantee Ellen Tømte Hagen (33) has never seen such a large amount of snow in May in the ten years she and her family have lived on the roof of Ringsaker, the country’s largest shanty municipality.

On 1 May, he measured 152 centimeters of compacted snow at Storason, a fixed measuring point 900 meters above sea level. Not since 1985 has there been this much snow in a green spring month.

On April 15, the measuring stick showed 172 centimeters – a snow record on Lake Sjusjon since 2008.

On May 10 it was still 132 cm.

– Just the night before I heard the sound of water dripping from the roof. It has been very cold during the nights for the past few days. We weigh the snow and the weight shows that there is a lot more water in the wet snow than in the dry snow, Domde Hagen tells Talkbladet.

Ten years of flood

Snowmelt on Sjusjøen flows to Mjøsa and further to Glomma.

Already on the weekend Tuesday or Wednesday Warnings NVE (Norwegian Directorate of Water Resources and Energy) On ten-year flood risk in eastern Norway.

Most exposed from the start: gloma and trammensvastrajet.

– The magnitude of the Orange flood in a few days will already have serious consequences, and people in exposed, low-lying areas need to prepare now. For example, moving valuables from cellars, moving caravans along river banks and protecting boats. Anne-Live Øine Leine, who is in charge of NVES flood warning, tells Dagbladet that farmers should remove the round bales near normal water levels.

There, the flood warning telephone is “hot” during the day.

Not sure about the weather

– Since last Wednesday, rain and temperature forecasts have been changing daily. This creates uncertainty about when and where the floodwaters will arrive, says Øine Leines.

In the latest flood warning NVE estimates that many mountain areas are seeing one-and-a-half to three times more snowfall than normal.

In addition to Glomma and Drammensvassdraget, NVE initially warns of abnormal water flow in Gudbrandsdalslågen, Trysilelva, Numdedalslågen and Skiensvassdraget.

NVE urges people around low-lying lakes below 500 meters above sea level to be especially vigilant before the ice suddenly turns into floodwater:

Mjøsa, Krøderen, Øyeren, Randsfjorden, Sperillen and Tyrifjorden.

The 2000s saw several catastrophic floods directly triggered by snowmelt and rainfall.

1995 was the most destructive flood in modern times. The flood was given the historical name Wesleofsen and was called the 100-year flood.

– Do we risk such conditions this spring?

– No, there are no signs of that now, the watchman responded to NVE’s flood warning.

There is a direct connection to the name Wesleofsen, who claimed a life when his car was swept away by floodwaters in Lillehammer.Worst flood in the country – Storofsen.

Cooler degrees and late, massive snowmelt in the mountains in southern Norway until May 22 triggered major floods in 1995.

Worst after the Black Death

Storofsen was 200 years earlier – in 1789.

Historians reasonably agree that this flood was Norway’s worst natural disaster Black Death in 1349-50.

In 1789, there was a lot of winter snow in the mountains. But in the middle and end of July there was a long period of rain, which did not completely restrain the forces of nature.

At least 61 people have died. Several thousand animals drowned, at least 3,000 residential houses were swept away by floods and at least 1,800 farms were submerged in rivers.

Gudbrandsdalen and Østerdalen were hit hard, and many had to find new farms and livelihoods far from their original homes.

Exceeded 17 meters

The Gutbrandsdal dialect still has a historical background appearing in Målselvdalen and Bardudalen in Troms.

Measurements in 1789 showed that Mjøsa had flowed nine meters above normal level (“only” seven meters below Lillofsen in 1995), Øyeren had risen 13 meters above its banks and Nedre Glomma had risen 17 meters.