A longer stretch of the E45 was destroyed and parts of the road rose during Sunday’s downpour. Karl-Anders Arvidsson and around 30 other motorists had to be transported away from the scene in an extensive rescue operation.
– Of course it felt scary, I have never been so wet in a car before, says Karl-Anders.
– I wondered where the hell it was coming from, how could there be so much water, he continues.
Inadequate drainage
The Göta älvdalen area has been classified as a risk area in terms of both floods and landslides. On Monday, there were a few cars left on the E45, as well as piles of styrofoam – a material used in, among other things, muddy areas to reduce the weight of the road, to avoid, among other things, cracks.
According to researchers, the sequence of events indicates that the drainage was not sufficient, despite the fact that the Swedish Transport Administration has been working on climate adaptation for several years on Swedish roads.
– In this case, water has gotten under the styrofoam from the sides and then water pressure builds up from below which lifts the material upwards, says Sigurdur Erlingsson, professor of road engineering at the Norwegian Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI.
Could happen again
More extreme weather conditions will become more common in Sweden as a result of climate change. When large amounts of rain fall in a short time, the terrain cannot take care of it. Furthermore, it is difficult to know exactly where it might happen.
– This can happen anywhere. It is certain that some areas are more exposed than others, but in principle you can get heavy rainfall anywhere in Sweden and it is very difficult to say that this area is more exposed than that one, says Sigurdur Erlingsson.
Shouldn’t the Swedish road network withstand torrential rain?
– You can hope for that, but here it has probably been something extreme, says Ryno Nilsson, project manager at the Swedish Transport Administration to TV4 Nyheterna.
He believes that perhaps you should start looking at low points in the terrain where the water is most likely to collect.