Over 43,000 lightning flashes overnight; more storms coming

By Janene Pieters on Friday, 14 August 2015 - 09:14
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Lightning over The Hague (Picture: Twitter/@reinvl)Lightning over The Hague (Picture: Twitter/@reinvl)

The storms that moved from the southwest of the Netherlands northwards during the course of Thursday night, brought a massive 43 thousand lighting strikes with it. Some places got between 30 and 50 mm of rain. The storms caused problems with train traffic and car traffic and the fire department had to respond to 140 reports of flooding.

The fire department got a total of 140 reports of flooding between 6:00 p.m. on Thursday and 6:00 a.m this morning, especially in Brabant and the regions of The Hague and Rotterdam. There were also 80 reports of storm damage, AD reports. Bergen op Zoom had the most rain with 50 millimeters. According to Weeronline, the Netherlands gets so much rain in one place usually only once every 10 years.

A fallen tree resulted in the A44 from Amsterdam to The Hague a the Oude-Wetering exit being closed down fro some time. The A20 at Kleinpolderplein in Rotterdam was also closed for hours because of water on the road. Both roads are open again. Traffic in the Roosendaal area also suffered from the heavy rains. On the A17 and A58 motorists were only able to drive up to 30 kilometers per hour, according to the traffic information service VID. The rains also caused traffic disruptions in West Brabant and Zuid Holland.

A lightning strike halted the train traffic between Vleuten and Woerden between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. This paralyzed the rail traffic between Utrecht and Gouda.

The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute expects more thunder storms for Friday afternoon and night and has issued a code yellow weather warning. The chance of storms is most likely in the east and center of the country. Afternoon temperatures of between 22 degrees on the coast and 26 degrees in the east are expected.

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