Flooded streets, lightning strikes in east Netherlands
Stormy weather caused a lot of problems in the eastern parts of the Netherlands on Sunday. Streets in multiple towns flooded and a lightning strike brought train traffic between Zwolle and Olst to a halt. Lightning strikes also caused a number of small fires, RTL Nieuws reports.
Meteorological institute KNMI issued a code yellow warning for the eastern half of the Netherlands on Sunday, warning of lightning strikes and large amounts of rainfall. Some places also faced large hailstones.
The rainfall left streets flooded in Beek en Donk in Noord-Brabant as well as in manly places in Limburg. In the Limburg village of Bree, a nursing home started to flood. Various elderly residents were evacuated by paramedics.
The lightning strike on the tracks between Zwolle and Olst damaged about a dozen railway crossings. NS deployed buses to transport people on this route and ProRail is working hard to repair the damage. At around 6:30 a.m. on Monday, ProRail said on Twitter that technicians worked through the night and managed to repair all but one crossing. Train traffic is in the process of restarting on this route.
A lightning strike started a fire in a home in Deventer, according to RTV Oost. The same happened to a home in Lathum, Omroep Gelderland reports. Whether anyone was injured, is not yet clear.
