Systemic vulnerability and resilience analysis of electric and transport network failure in cases of extreme winter storms

Extreme winter storms in Northern regions consist of heavy snowfall, strong wind, and cold weather. Besides causing short-term disruptions, they may cause serious and long-lasting consequences to societies in these regions. They disrupt society's normal interactions, especially in sparsely populated areas, due to snow-blocked roads, which isolate people and prevent rescue operations in emergencies. Winter storms accumulate snow on power lines, causing damage to the electricity and communication networks. Finally, if the electricity is cut off due to the snow load and falling trees, all the houses without wood-burning stoves are at risk of cooling down. Hence, citizens are in danger of hypothermia if they cannot move, or be evacuated, to safer places. In tourist areas, foreign tourists are even more vulnerable. Usually, they are not able to follow the authorities' warnings because of different languages and cultures, and they don't necessarily know how to dress against cold weather. Winter storms also increase the maintenance costs of electricity networks, roads, and railways, inflicting delay costs, and posing delays in logistics systems. In cities, the heavy snowfall creates problems in maintaining functional infrastructure, as roads and streets become blocked because of the amounts of snow and parked vehicles covered with snow.