€10 mil in water damages after floods

By Maxime Zech on July 29, 2014 - 13:32
Alphen
. In Alphen aan den Rijn, residents secure the dike with sandbags. Source: Twitter/@NatasVerhorik

The heavy rainfall in The Netherlands on Monday has caused around €10 million in damage according to the first rough estimate from the Union of Insurers (Verbond van Verzekeraars). 

This estimate pertains to personal homes, and has not taken into account car damage or damage for companies and the agrarian sector.

Insurance companies will be able to pay damage caused by water leaking through holes in the roof, but flooding on the ground floor requires separate coverage, according to the NOS.

In Amsterdam, at least 30 fire trucks were called in, some on a voluntary basis from Diemen, Duivendrecht and Amstelveen, to assist people affected by the flooding. At a certain point, the fire department would only come to aid in case of short-circuiting.

Nobody was injured in the flooding, the effects of which are still causing problems in various areas of the country. In Alphen aan den Rijn, residents banded together with sand bags, buckets and water pumps to prevent water from breaching a dike. In 24 hours, more rain fell in Alphen than normally falls in one month.

In other parts of the country, the fire department is still working to pump away the water from the torrent on Monday. In Kockengen, Utrecht, the streets are still inundated, and the water boards believe it may take days to clear it all away. "It's disappointing to find this situation the same the day after the rain", a resident tells the NOS.

In Tilburg and Loon op Zand, the municipalities say that the flooding was not preventable. "They said it was long-term extreme rainfall, and the existent sewage system is not prepared for that", a spokesperson tells Omroep Brabant.

Despite the large amount of rainfall, yesterday was not the wettest day in Dutch history. On the 3rd of August in 1948, 208 millimeters of rain fell in Voorthuizen. Yesterday's rain affected Alphen aan den Rijn the most, where 181 millimeters of rain fell.

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