Finland measures record strong wind

Record strong winds hit Finland early Wednesday, with the highest wind speed of 32.5 meters per second ever seen in the country measured on the island of Kokar in Äaland.

According to national broadcaster Yle, Kokar even measured gust at speed of 41 meters per second.

Police in the Äaland islands have advised local residents to stay indoors to keep safe.

Strong winds have blacked out parts of the island, leaving nearly half of the 30,000 households without electricity, reported the newspaper Nya Äland.

It also said the local public broadcaster Älands radio was disabled. Until late this morning, the radio can only be accessed through internet.

The Äaland islands are located in the Baltic between Finnish mainland and Sweden.

High waves of 7.9 meters were registered amid strong winds. But it remained less than the highest ever 8.2 meters.

The large passenger liners between Finland and Sweden were sailing on schedule with skipped port calls on the Äaland islands.

The three leading Finnish mobile operators also reported problems in their networks.

In mainland Finland, 85,000 households were out of electricity. Road traffic suffered from heavy snowfall, but no major accidents were reported.

Fallen trees caused the closure of railroad track both in eastern and western Finland. There were no major delays in air traffic.