Storms cause power outage, lightning cancels football

By Janene Pieters on August 27, 2015 - 09:13
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Lightning over The Hague (Picture: Twitter/@reinvl)Lightning over The Hague (Picture: Twitter/@reinvl)

The thunderstorms that hit the Netherlands on Wednesday evening caused problems in several places. 25 thousand homes in Noord-Holland were without power for some time and a number of football matches had to be cancelled.  

The storms entered the country via Zeeland around 7:30 pm, and were accompanied by hail, strong winds and lots of rain in a short time, especially in the west and north of the country. Wind gusts at the speed of 102 kilometers per hour were measured on the IJmuiden pier, NOS reports.

The heavy rains caused a leak in a substation which shorted out around 8:30 pm, leaving 25 thousand households in Noord-Holland in the dark for about an hour, the Volkskrant reports. Liander started diverting the stream and sent a malfunction team to the affected substation. Power was restored around 9:21 p.m. Affected areas include Heemskerk, Castricum and Uitgeest.

Parts of Noord-Holland were also without drinking water as result of the storm and power outage. Water company PWN's water plant is located in the area affected by the power outage. And because of the storm, the company's backup power was not working, a spokesperson said to NU. Around 10:15 p.m. the company announced that power has been restored and that everyone should have adequate water pressure again.

Several football matches for the KNVB Cup also had to be cancelled. The match between RKAVV and VV Staphorst in Leidschendam was stopped after after 19 minutes. The matches between Longa and Ter Leede and between Lisse and Halsteren were also cancelled.

Long periods of rain is expected for Thursday, with skies only clearing on Friday. Nice weather is expected for the last weekend of the meteorological summer, with plenty of sunshine and temperatures of between 23 and 28 degrees expected for Saturday. Some thunderstorms are possible locally.

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