Rainy weather in Gothenburg: Flooding and traffic jams

GOTHENBURG. Floods, fallen trees and poo water in the Göta River.
These are some of the results after the storm His last day in Gothenburg.
– It has been so urgent that shops have been flooded, says Anna Lerén, communicator at the Greater Gothenburg rescue service.

During Monday and Tuesday, 50 millimeters of rain fell around Gothenburg. It is more than the area can handle.

Already on Tuesday morning, the E6 was heavily flooded and long queues formed at the Kålleredsmotet in Gothenburg.

Now the road is completely closed until midnight, when the water hasn’t had time to recede when the rain comes on. In addition, a large number of trees have fallen, several of them on E6.

On one side of the highway in Kållered flooded. The commercial area’s parking lot was turned into a small lake and several business premises were filled with water.

The water is rising: “Maybe we have to leave the house”

At the same time, on the other side of the E6, the water rose several decimetres in the river Even, which overflowed. Hours later, the flood had reached the residential buildings on the other side of the street.

Souha Kachma, 58, has lived in the townhouse next to Even for thirteen years. It is not the first time they have had flooding right up to the house, the last time was four years ago. The water then penetrated into the storeroom, which was water damaged.

Now Souha sees the water rise again. She and her husband built a rampart in front of the entrance to the house.

– It is to prevent the water from entering, but it has done so anyway. But we hope it won’t be any more. You get very worried, maybe it will damage the house too, she says.

Like the other neighbors on the street, Souha hopes they’ll make it this time. That the rainy weather Hans moves on before the water reaches all the way to their house.

– But we’ll see. We don’t know how much it will be. Maybe we have to leave the house, she says.

During the afternoon, the municipality came out to try to stop the water flow in the area with dikes. But maybe it’s already too late, says Lisa Kaic, 32, who also lives in the area opposite Även.

– I don’t think that helped much, to be completely honest. I don’t know what the purpose is, the wells are overflowing. I don’t think diverting water with dikes will help, she says.

Poop water in the Göta river

The skyfalls have replaced each other in Gothenburg throughout Tuesday.

Just before lunch, Göta Älv overflowed, including at the Fishing Harbour.

Even for the sewage works, there was eventually too much water. The smaller plants cannot handle the large amounts and now unclean waste water – poo water – is released straight into the Göta river.

The city of Gothenburg has stopped the intake of drinking water from there.

When the water recedes into the river is unclear – how it will continue to blow is decisive.

– Now it’s a south-westerly wind and that’s why it doesn’t run away, says Anna Lerén.

The problems are expected to continue

SMHI has issued a red warning for high water flows that applies throughout Wednesday. It currently applies from Laholm in the south up to Kungsbacka in the north.

Until 12 o’clock there is a yellow warning for rain, wind and high water flows in Västra Götaland.

– The low pressure remains during Wednesday, it is only on Thursday that it starts to weaken. Only towards the end of the week does it disappear completely, says Ida Dahlström, meteorologist at SMHI.

Here are the weather warnings in Sweden: