– It looks terrible – news Vestland

– I was tidy and nice out here, but now it looks awful, says Aslaug Jåstad. On Saturday, 28 residents from 18 addresses were still evacuated in the village of Lofthus, along the Sørfjorden in Hardanger, in Vestland county. After 16.30 it is clear that they can come home again. Earlier today, Aslaug Jåstad and the man were allowed to visit the house to collect some belongings. She told about some dramatic days. At five in the morning, on the night of Friday, she was out to look at the garden. She has lived in the town since 1968, and has never experienced anything like it. In the garden, a large area had been washed out. Down the river came both stones and large apple crates that the masses had brought with them. The sight of the house and garden now is not pleasant. – The wall is gone on one side. So there is a bit to deal with when we get to the hooks again, says Jåstad. Earth has washed out into the river Opo at Lofthus in Ullensvang. A post will be secured in the garden of Aslaug Jåstad and her husband. A large stone will make the post stable. Assessed continuous Jakob” ravaged large parts of Western Norway on Thursday and Friday. The large amounts of rainfall led, among other things, to Odda in Hardanger becoming completely isolated. In Øvre Årdal in Sogn, around 100 people were evacuated overnight on Friday. On Friday, the river Opo thundered through Lofthus. Parts of Aslaug’s neighborhood in Lofthus have offered at the folk college since they were evacuated from their homes. Photo: Oskar Rennedal / news On Saturday afternoon, geologists examined the riverbed and the area further up the mountainside. The municipality has held several meetings to assess whether the residents can be allowed to move back home. At 16.30 it is clear that they can come home. Outside the summer park Mikkelparken in Kinsarvik stands a pallet with water bottles for the residents. The municipality has disconnected the drinking water after the flood. There is still a boil warning and work is being done to establish purified drinking water from the Kinsarvik waterworks. The water comes in handy when there is a boil warning after the flood. Several have taken water with them. Never experienced anything like it The summary to Geir Midtun at Lofthus is short but effective. – Very wet, and quite intense. Geir Midtun at Lofthus is moonstruck at how big the river has become. Photo: Oskar Rennedal / news He says that what he has experienced is something he never thought one would get to experience at Lofthus. – That the river grew so big that it almost took houses with it, flew through the nursery and destroyed cultivated land. My 90-year-old father says that even he has never seen anything like this. This has been intense, notes Midtun. There are traces of the extreme weather “Jakob” in the landscape. Photo: Oskar Rennedal / news Cleaning up the hotel In Hardanger, there are many who are now “licking their wounds”, as hotel manager Aleksander Grieg puts it. On the night of Friday, a river flowed through his hotel. Overpriced Hotel Ullensvang. Throughout the night, he has been accompanied by a special team from the Bergen fire brigade. They have cleared away valuable and historical objects and works of art, and stored them dry and tightly packed. The hall is empty. The damage shows. Cleaning is in full swing at the Ullensvang hotel after the extreme weather “Jakob”. The floor has suffered extensive damage. Many on the move. – It’s amazing how much you can get done in a day. It looks good in some places, and absolutely terrible in other places. Some of the rooms look like disaster areas. Today, he looks back at whether there was anything they could have done differently. – I honestly don’t think so. Me was very well prepared. The forecasts were very precise, the municipality’s preparedness was good, we had been out and looked at all our basins. – We were well aware that this could happen. But when such large amounts of water come, I don’t think it is possible to stand against the forces of nature. Britt Marie Grieg met this sight on Friday morning at the Ullensvang hotel. Photo: Britt marie grieg The fire brigade worked to get the water out of the hotel on Friday. Photo: Britt Marie Grieg This is how it looked in the basement of Hotel Ullensvang on Friday morning. – It was intense. Trine Synnevåg Opedal was not evacuated from her house, but it was close. – I’m used to boulders from melting snow and large amounts of water, but yesterday the river flooded the ground on the opposite side of the house. It was full of activity and very unclear. Trine Synnevåg Photo: Oskar Rennedal – I’m used to the stones, but you can turn up the sound a few times. It was intense. I was wondering if these stones would create other challenges further down the river. Opedal has lived in the area since 2014. Then the rains hit Odda full force, and took several houses with it in what became a mass destruction in the center of Odda. But even then, it wasn’t that intense at Lofthus. – It was not as intense as this. I have never experienced it before. Published 02.11.2024, at 16.51 Updated 02.11.2024, at 17.18



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