The number of damage reports after the severe weather in parts of the country on Thursday has risen to more than 250, insurers Interpolis and Nationale-Nederlanden (NN) report. This mainly concerns damage to houses due to, for example, flooding or a leak caused by strong winds.
Interpolis has received 175 reports so far, a spokeswoman said early Friday afternoon. They mainly come from Limburg, Gelderland and North Brabant.
About eighty reports have now been received by NN, according to a spokesperson. “Experts are working to assess the more serious damage. Customers are helped as quickly as possible with any emergency measures.” OHRA and the insurance policies of ABN AMRO, ING and SNS also fall under NN.
What happened?
On Thursday, bad weather caused inconvenience in several places in the Netherlands, especially in the south of the country. In the Limburg towns of Valkenburg and Berg en Terblijt, water basins overflowed during the night from Thursday to Friday as a result of heavy rainfall. This caused damage to homes, the fire brigade reported on Friday.
Three homes were damaged due to the overflow of a Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) water basin near the A79 in Valkenburg (Limburg). RWS, together with the fire brigade, has now started pumping water out of the basin. “The situation is stable again,” a fire brigade spokesperson said on Friday morning. “The danger has passed.”
A water basin also flooded in Berg en Terblijt, causing a large mud flow. The mud entered homes, causing extensive damage. The mud flow made its way through a street that had been opened up due to construction work, along which about fifty houses are located. The spokesperson could not say how many of them suffered damage.
The center and south of the country were hit hard by the severe weather on Thursday evening (video):
Explosion in meter cupboard
In Nuth, lightning struck a home, causing the meter cupboard to explode and cause a fire. The resident managed to extinguish the incipient fire himself, after which the fire brigade prevented worse. According to the spokesperson, the home sustained considerable damage.
The municipality of Meerssen reports that there is gravel and mud on several roads due to the enormous water flow. The municipality uses sweeper trucks to clean the streets. Manhole covers have also come up due to the large amount of water. A bicycle tunnel under the A2 between Rothem and Meerssen has been closed due to flooding. It will remain that way until the tunnel has been cleaned.
Pull out seventy times
The fire brigade had to respond about seventy times during the night from Thursday to Friday due to flooding in South Limburg. Not everyone could be helped. “Unfortunately, people often have to rely on themselves,” said the spokesperson. “For example, if their basement is flooded, they have to pump it out themselves.”
On Friday morning the fire brigade was still busy with clean-up work, which there was no time for earlier. “It is expected that things will return to normal,” the spokesperson said. “There are hardly any reports coming in.”
The KNMI warns of dangerous weather via color codes, why do they do that and does it make sense? (video):
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Tags: Severe weather ravages sleeping Netherlands damage reports insurers Domestic
