Systemic Vulnerability and Resilience Analysis of Electric and Transport Network Failure in Cases of Extreme Winter Storms

Extreme winter storms in northern regions bring heavy snowfall, strong winds and cold weather. Winter storms accumulate snow on power lines, causing damage, power outages and communication breakdowns. They may disrupt society’s normal interactions, especially in sparsely populated areas, due to snow-blocked roads, isolating people and preventing rescue operations in cases of emergency. In the worst cases, when the electricity is cut off for long time, many houses are at risk of rapid cooling. Hence, people are in danger of hypothermia if they cannot move or be evacuated to warm and safe places. Foreign visitors may be even more vulnerable because of language problems and different safety cultures, including e.g. not knowing how to dress properly for cold weather This paper presents part of the results of activities performed within the EU project CRISMA “Modelling crisis management for improved action and preparedness”. It shows how vulnerability analyses are produced in the case of an extreme winter storm in northern Finland. The analysis is based both on risk-hazard and socio-constructive approaches, combined to achieve the most effective results for the use of rescue services and regional planning authorities.