At least half a billion euros in damage, four fatalities, wind speeds of up to 145 kilometers per hour: the Netherlands was completely under the spell of turbulent weather last week. This afternoon, after six days of storm and chaos, the heavy wind gusts that at times completely disrupted our country finally came to an end.
Of the storms, Eunice in particular had a major impact on our society. This storm, according to the KNMI the heaviest in more than thirty years, passed through the Netherlands with gusts of wind up to 145 kilometers per hour on Friday and left a trail of destruction across the country. In Den Helder, for example, the roof of a train platform partially collapsed, a large inflatable sports hall in Rotterdam was destroyed and the roof of the ADO Den Haag stadium was extensively damaged.
In various places people had to leave their homes because roofs had blown away. Four Dutchmen did not survive the storms. It concerns two Amsterdammers, one inhabitant of Diemen and a resident of the Groningen municipality of Het Hogeland.
Largest storm damage
The storms are estimated to have caused damage to homes, cars and commercial buildings for at least 500 million euros, according to an initial inventory of the insured damage by the Dutch Association of Insurers. This would be the largest storm damage ever measured.
The insurers have already received many thousands of damage reports due to storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin and also expect a lot of consequential damage. It is expected that it will continue to be windy in the coming days. Then there is a risk that roof tiles and solar panels that have come loose due to previous gusts of wind will cause more damage. The same applies to trees that have already been slightly uprooted.
It will probably take some time before all damage is repaired. “Insurers have scaled up and are doing everything they can for a smooth claim settlement,” said Richard Weurding, general manager at the Association. According to him, customers are helped as quickly as possible, but in some cases they have to take waiting times into account due to the large number of reports that come in. Roofers and plumbers are now very busy with repairs.
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Society disrupted
The storms not only caused great damage, but also brought a part of society to a standstill. For example, train traffic was completely stopped on Friday from 2 p.m. to Saturday afternoon, which is unique. Hundreds of flights have also been canceled at Schiphol, Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Eindhoven Airport in recent days. Meal deliverers such as Thuisbezorgd and Picnic did not send their deliverers on the road out of fear for their safety. Some test and prick streets were closed for days.
In addition, Post NL had to deal with a backlog in the delivery of mail and parcels. Due to storm Eunice, there were significant delays in collecting the packages and letters. “The safety of our people is of course paramount and some of the mail and parcels could not be collected at the planned time due to the extreme circumstances,” the company reported. In order to catch up, mail was also delivered on Monday, while according to PostNL this is not a regular delivery day for mail.
Furthermore, the large amount of rain in recent days caused flooding, especially in the north of the country. Local roads and cycle paths have been flooded due to overflowing ditches and drainages. For example, the road along the Beilervaart and the Drentse Hoofdvaart in Drenthe is under water. According to the Drents-Overijsselse Delta water board, the city canals in Zwolle are also overflowing and the Overijsselse Vecht has overflowed. The water board expects the Vecht to rise even further.
Triplet Storm
In addition to Eunice, the Netherlands also had to deal with storms Dudley and Franklin last week. Storms occur more often in succession and are also known as twin storms. But a so-called triplets storm is very rare. According to the KNMI, the last time this happened was almost a hundred years ago, in 1928.
This morning, the whole of the Netherlands was warned with the so-called code yellow for wind gusts of 75 to 90 kilometers per hour. At sea, gusts of wind up to about 100 kilometers per hour could occur. The warning was the first to expire in Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel, Maastricht and the Wadden area, followed by the rest of the country this afternoon.
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What now?
In the coming week, forests and nature reserves with many trees are not yet safe for walkers and cyclists. Conservationists expect to take at least one to two weeks to clean up the havoc caused by the storms. Many trees and loose branches can still fall. Staatsbosbeheer advises hikers to look for open areas, such as heathland or dunes.
The municipality of Amsterdam is clear about repairing all damage: that may take weeks. “We are working with all our might to clear everything up.” Dangerous trees are cleared as soon as possible. Hundreds of trees are expected to have been blown down by the storm in the capital.
The Amsterdam parks will remain closed until Sunday morning at least because of the risks of falling branches and trees that will fall over. The municipality also calls on not to go to the Amsterdamse Bos until the clean-up work there is completed. Everyone in the rest of the city is also warned to watch out for loose branches.
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