Rain floods Swedish train station; commuters turn it into swimming pool

Rain floods Swedish train station; commuters turn it into swimming pool

Heavy rain became an opportunity for some fun in Sweden earlier this week, where commuters turned a flooded train station into a makeshift swimming pool briefly.

The Uppsala Central Station, the main railway station located in Uppsala - Sweden's fourth-largest city - was flooded due to a torrential bout of summer rain on Sunday (July 29).

Traffic in the city was also disrupted.

But Swedish commuters took the less than ideal situation and turned the floods, which affected the underpass leading out of the station, into a swimming pool.

Pictures on social media show commuters in full snorkelling gear, floats and swimsuits floating along the flooded underpass.

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Some like Sarah Thoren, a local photographer, had other things on their mind too. Thoren, who was at the station snapping shots of her family having fun in the flood, was quoted by RT website as saying: "The water was really dirty! But it was okay.. we really needed a long shower after."

Security officers eventually asked commuters to leave the flooded station, concerned about the risk of electrocution, a Business Insider report said.

The water was pumped out of the station on Sunday night and the station is now functioning normally, the report added.

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A few brief rainstorms over the weekend brought some relief to Sweden where wildfires have been raging since mid-July. No casualties have been reported.

Reports said the wildfires are now abating. On Tuesday (July 31), an Agence France-Presse report cited the Swedish emergency services SOS Alarm as saying that the country's 10 fires were all under control. It added that the number was half the number of wildfires registered in the Nordic country last week and far below the 45 to 70 fires reported earlier in July.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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