Little damage as Netherlands weathers storm

24 June 2004

AMSTERDAM — National weather centre KNMI cancelled at 2.15am on Thursday the storm alert issued on Wednesday as no injuries and little damage was attributed to the 100kmh plus winds and rain that lashed the country.

In one of the most serious incidents, a Polish yacht, with 10 people onboard, got into difficulties off the coast at Egmond. Two lifeboats towed the vessel to Den Helder harbour.

And in various places across the country, falling trees and branches caused delays on roads and on train tracks. In another incident a tree fell on a house, but there were no injuries.

The KNMI said the early warning of the storm — which hit the coast at about 2.15pm on Wednesday — greatly helped to minimise the problems it could potentially have caused.

As a precaution, village fairs and summer festivals were postponed on Wednesday and the international Papendal athletic meeting at Arnhem was cancelled.

As strong winds continued to gust on Thursday morning, the KMNI said the storm was moving slowly in the direction of southern Norway. The high winds and heavy cloud cover across the Netherlands are expected to diminish throughout the course of the day.

After the storm hit the Dutch coast on Wednesday, it slowly moved across the Zeeland and Zuid-Holland provinces eastwards, bringing with it heavy rains and wind gusts of up to 120kmh.

Afternoon reports indicated that trees were being blown over in the southern city Breda. One tree fell across a home in the Buffelstraat.

Cyclists were advised to leave their bikes at home due to the strong wind gusts, due to the danger that trees could be uprooted and tiles blown from roofs, newspaper De Telegraaf reported.

Subject: Dutch news