Crisis talks begin: Dutch hailstorms cause €100 million in farm damages

The Ministry of Economic Affairs is holding a crisis meeting with various farmers' unions and insurers on Monday to discuss the damage storms in Limburg and Noord-Brabant caused last week. On Friday LTO Nederland estimated that farmers in those provinces suffered about 100 million euros worth of damage, 1Limburg reports. Heavy rain and hail storms on Thursday and Friday destroyed greenhouses, crops, barns and solar panels. According to local media, Monday's meeting will focus on damages suffered by uninsured farmers. The meeting will be attended by Limburg's agricultural and horticultural association LLTB, Branbant's ZLTO and LTO Nederland. On Wednesday State Secretary Martijn van Dam of Economic Affairs will be visiting Limburg farmers who suffered damages due to all the rain the Netherlands had this spring. Many farmers suffered water damage, in addition to the hail damage suffered lat week, and a number of them are not insured against it. According to 1Limburg, Van Dam previously stated that this visit will not be about compensating the farmers. But LLTB still believes that the affected farmers should receive assistance. Meteorological institute KNMI expects another cloudy and rainy day for the Netherlands on Monday, but so far no weather warnings were issued. Afternoon temperatures will be around 18 to 19 degrees Celsius.