Southern Scandinavia soaked by rain (Roundup)

Jul 6, 2007, 13:39 GMT

Copenhagen/Oslo - Flooding due to recent heavy rainfall disrupted rail and road services Friday in southern Scandinavia, with at least one fatality in Sweden.

Police could not determine the cause of death of a woman found in an almost completely submerged car in a ditch just off a motorway, north of southern Swedish city of Helsingborg.

The Swedish Road Administration warned of flooded roads including several national highways in the southern province of Skane. Motorists were advised to avoid trips to Malmo, the country's third largest city, since sections of the main ring-road were flooded.

Train services were disrupted between Helsingborg and Landskrona due to flooding, train operator SJ said.

In Denmark, the four-day Roskilde festival held west of Copenhagen got underway Thursday but hundreds of festival visitors abandoned their rain-soaked tents in the evening.

The Danish Red Cross that offers first aid services at the festival issued a warning that drunk festival visitors risked drowning in the deep pools of water that have collected in some areas of the festival site, and urged caution.

Rescue services company Falck received some 450 phone calls from homeowners over flooded cellars in the eastern part of Denmark where roads were also flooded, Danish news agency Ritzau reported.

Norwegian Queen Sonja Friday cancelled a scheduled tour with the royal yacht along the inland waterway Blindleia in southern Norway due to rain, blustery winds and poor visibility.

The queen and visiting European royals, who were celebrating her 70th birthday, remained on the royal yacht instead of eating a picnic lunch on an island in the fjord, broadcaster NRK said.

Southern Norway has experienced several days of heavy rainfall and rain-swollen rivers threatened to burst their banks in several communities north-west of Oslo.

The home guard assisted emergency services Thursday to secure timber that threatened to drift in Flesberg.

Early Friday, 75 camping trailers were moved from a flooded camping site in Hokksund.