Enormous amounts of rain fell over much of the mountains of southern Norway on Sunday and during the night, setting off landslides and flash-flooding especially in the counties of Oppland and Sogn og Fjordane. The excessive amounts of water closed several highways and sent some homes and barns sliding off their foundations.
The most rain was registered at Venabu, a popular mountain plateau area just south of Rondane in Oppland, which was pounded by 76.8 millimeters between 8am Sunday and 8am Monday. The major E6 highway that runs through the valley of Gudbrandsdalen, just down the mountain and west of Venabu, was closed for several hours between Kvam and Frya because of flooding.
“We had 70 millimeters in Sør-Fron, and that’s been hard on our roads,” Tom Erik Amundsen of Sør-Fron township, adding that all available equipment was out to clear mud, make repairs and dig channels for the water to dissipate.
The E39 highway over the mountains farther to the northwest was also closed along the lake Hornindalsvatnet, adding to summer traffic congestion. Several local county roads were also flooded or washed out. Hillside homes were badly damaged by the flooding at Utvik in Sogn og Fjordane. One homeowner lost his garage, a boathouse was washed into the fjord and some households were evacuated in Gloppen on the Nordfjord.
The heavy rain on Sunday afternoon was accompanied by lightning, thunder and hail at Alvdal. The weather was clearing on Monday afternoon but the West Coast was due for more rain.
newsinenglish.no staff
