Residents near the E6 and the sinkhole, caused by a landslide in Stenungsund, are critical that it could happen.
– Disaster, says one of the residents.
The alarm about the landslide at the height of Stenungsund reached the rescue service at 01.48 on the night of Saturday. The roadway on the E6 had then suffered major damage in both the northbound and southbound directions.
Several residents near the sinkhole are critical of the way the forest has been cut down in the area and believe that it may have something to do with the disaster.
– I knew exactly where it was somewhere. We have looked at this area where it has been cleared. Many of us who live here have discussed this, how much they cut. All the water that has arrived, where will it go? asks a woman whom TV4 Nyheterna spoke to.
Three were slightly injured
Several cars drove down over the razed edge. Three people were slightly injured.
– A number of people were able to get out by themselves, a number have been stuck in the cars and received help from a surface rescuer, says Anders Ekberg, head of the Greater Gothenburg Rescue Service, at a press conference together with the municipality, the police and the Swedish Transport Administration.
The emergency services and the police have gone through the area with the help of search dogs and no more people have been found.
The work is now focused on effects that the race has had on the environment. In the area there is, among other things, a petrol station and the question is whether there has been a leak.
“Many months”
Pictures from the area show extensive damage in several places. Most of the devastation appears to be near the gas station, where a large crack runs across the landscape, from one side of the road to the other.
The Swedish Transport Administration assesses that the impact on traffic will be “enormous” for a long time to come. Right now the focus is on diverting traffic.
An estimated 10,000 vehicles pass the route every day.
– It will be a challenge for the other roads to be able to meet the influx of traffic. We try to get the heavy traffic to go on the E45 and avoid getting it onto the smaller road network, says Jörgen Einarsson, regional director of the Swedish Transport Administration.
– In the long term, it is too early to say how it will go. It will take many months.