March windstorm caused €10 million in wreckage

The March storm that hit the Netherlands yesterday caused an estimated 10 million euros worth of damage. This is according to the initial estimation of the Alliance of Insurers, Blik op nieuws reports. By 11:00 p.m. last night, the emergency services network P2000 had received more than 1,300 reports of storm damage. The strong winds of up to 120 kilometers per hour caused many fallen trees, blown away roof tiles, loose branches, flying debris and shattered windows in large parts of the Netherlands. This was usually also in combination with water damage. The northern parts of the country was hit the hardest, but there is also a considerable amount of damage in the coastal regions and Midden-Nederland. Yesterday's storm was larger than average, but still smaller than the extreme storms that hit the Netherlands in January 2007 and October 2013. A storm of such magnitude is also unusual for this time of year, as extreme damage storms more frequently appear in the fall and early winter. The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) announced a code orange weather warning (extreme weather) for the Northern parts of the Netherlands and a code yellow weather warning (dangerous weather) for the rest of the country yesterday.