OSLO (Reuters) -A dam on a Norwegian river partly collapsed on Wednesday, sending water gushing through a gaping hole in the middle of the structure after days of heavy flooding in the area, TV images showed.
The Braskereidfoss power dam on the Glomma river, Norway’s biggest waterway, had been unable to open its hatches after its control room flooded.
Police earlier considered blowing one of the hatches of the 45-year-old dam to help relieve the situation, but decided against doing so as the explosion would have been difficult to control.
Norway has evacuated thousands of people as rivers swelled to their highest levels in at least 50 years, and homes and businesses were submerged or swept away by landslides.
Major roads were closed and train services suspended across wide parts of southern Norway as rivers breached their banks, and authorities warned of more flooding to come in the days ahead as the water moves towards lower-lying coastal regions.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Victoria KlestyEditing by Alexandra Hudson and John Stonestreet)
