Finland measures record strong wind

HELSINKI, Jan. 2 -- 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 Aaland.

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

Police in the Aaland 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 Aland.

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

The Aaland 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 Aaland 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.