Melting snow floods different parts in Finland

Warm weather rapidly raised water levels in the rivers and lakes and overflowed the nearby low-lying areas at different parts in the country from Kainuu to Lapland, said Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) in a bulletin on Sunday.

Residential areas besides the big rivers in Lapland are also at risk of getting wet.

Water level in the Rivers Ivalojoki and Ounasjoki increased and flowing over the danger level.

The water in River Ounasjoki in Kittilä has risen to a level where drains may flood, and the actual flood damage limit may be exceeded early this week.

According to SYKE, River Tornionjoki flooded the Poikkilahdentie road already during the weekend.

The weather is forecast to become clearly cooler at the beginning of this week, which will slow down the increase of discharges and have a significant impact on the magnitude of flood peaks.

According to forecasts, the discharges of Rivers Tornionjoki and Muonionjoki will peak around the middle of next week, possibly at the end of next week in the lower reaches around Tornio.

Flood peaks reached to clearly higher than average, but probably somewhat smaller than last year.

If the beginning of the week is warmer than forecast, floods may be higher than is currently forecast.

In Koillismaa, flood peaks reached to slightly higher, and lakes and rivers flooded the lowest-lying areas, local roads and other routes in places.

Lake Jongunjärvi is flooding roads already during the weekend. In Kainuu, natural lakes are forecast to reach higher-than-usual flood peaks next week.

The water levels of large lakes are clearly higher than usual in Lakeland Finland, and of the largest lakes, the water levels in Lakes Pielinen, Saimaa and Päijänne to continue rising until June.

The water levels of other lakes are now close to their highest level of the spring or have already started to fall.

The water level of Lake Päijänne will continue to rise in the next few weeks, but according to forecasts, the water level is likely to remain below the flood level.

The outflow of Lake Päijänne from Kalkkinen will be gradually reduced, but the discharge of River Kymijoki remains higher than average.

In the Vuoksi river basin, the water levels in Lakes Saimaa and Pielinen are predicted to rise to flood heights at the end of May.

The water level of Lake Saimaa is now almost 80 cm above the average level, and it is forecast to rise by 5–10 cm by mid-June.

The flood situation in Lake Saimaa is expected to persist at least until the end of June.

Lake Pielinen is forecast to reach an unusually high flood peak at the turn of May and June.

In Lakeland Finland, the lowest-lying areas and local roads might flood in places. Holiday homes locating in lowland areas are at risk of getting wet.