First autumn storm's damage estimated at €5 million at most
The damage caused by the first autumn storm to hit the Netherlands this season, amounts to 5 million euros at most, according to the first rough estimation by the Dutch association of insurers VNV. The damage is "not exceptionally large", a VNV spokesperson said to the Leeuwarder Courant.
The VNV usually does not announce damage amounts below 10 million euros. "And this storm was below that", spokesman Rudi Buis said to the newspaper. "Keep it at a few million, 5 million at most."
Trees knocked down by the strong winds caused a number of traffic problems on Wednesday. A tree fell on a girl at the Stedelijk Lyceum in Enschede. She sustained only minor injuries, the school director said to Tubantia. "We spoke to her parents and they told us that she only sustained some bruises and abbrasions." According to the director, the girl is in the 4th class of the high school.
The strong winds also caused problems in air and train traffic. Schiphol had to close down a number of runways, and KLM canceled around 60 flights. NS ran fewer trains on a number of routes, to give the rail company room to quickly deal with any problems caused by the weather.
