World

Baltic Storm Kills Two and Cuts Power to Half a Million in Latvia and Lithuania

Published Aug 23, 2026

Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of a massive storm-snapped tree arching across a wet Riga street as two pedestrians pass parked cars and scattered debris, rendered in warm ochre and slate-blue pastel strokes.

A cyclone swept across the eastern Baltic on 22 and 23 August, killing one person in the Latvian city of Jelgava when part of a building collapsed and another in Lithuania who was struck by a falling tree. Four more people were injured in Lithuania, including firefighters clearing debris. About 500,000 customers lost power across the two countries, with roughly 277,000 Latvian households still cut off at 07:00 on Sunday and damage recorded on close to 50 transmission lines and more than 40 substations. Northeastern Poland and Estonia were also hit. Latvia's environment, geology and meteorology centre called it the country's strongest summer storm since complete gust records began in 1966.

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