Norway has been hit by the worst floods in over 20 years. Last week, King Harald and Queen Sonja visited flood victims in Eastern Norway. Now Crown Prince Haakon has also shown his support for those who have been evacuated and have lost their homes.
The visit began meeting evacuees at the Klækken hotel. They were eating in the dining room when the Crown Prince arrived.
Klækken is located close to city of Hønefoss, one of the places hit hard by the extreme weather “Hans”. The hotel has been converted into a centre for evacuees. After the visit to the evacuation centre, the Crown Prince travelled on the Hønefoss to see the river and the damage it has caused.
During his visit His Royal Highness said: “There is quite a job to be done following this. It is terrible to see the masses of water here. It makes a great impression. The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate and those who live here say they have never seen so much water in the river as long as it has been measured. There has been a lot of destruction of material and areas. But after all, we have taken care that life and health have not been lost.”
The Crown Prince continued: “It is simply impressive to see the effort that has been made. Not only from those who have this as a job, but also those who have a taxi or an excavator to line up with.”
The Crown Prince then travelled on to Sønre Land and saw how the flood has affected those who live there.
At the end of his visit, Crown Prince Haakon said: “We hope that the flood peak will be reached within the next few days. Then the water will draw down. It is a phase where there can be instability in the soil. So people have to be careful in the coming period as well. They say that extreme weather like this probably comes more often than it has done before. We have to pay more attention to this in the time ahead.”
Several thousand are still evacuated and many areas under water; it is expected that the flood has reached its peak and that the water will subside in the coming days.
