Wettest summer in Netherlands history

This summer was the wettest since weather recordings started in the Netherlands. In the past months, there were 15 days on which 50 millimeters or more rain fell somewhere in the country, breaking the previous record of 14 super wet days in 2006, meteorologist Rico Schroder said on the Weerplaza site.

"The highest 24-hour precipitation this summer was measured in Bergen (Noord-Holland). There no less than 116 millimeters of rain fell," Shroder said. 

The number of days with heavy showers will likely increase in the future due to global warming. "When the air is warmer, it holds more water vapor. As a result, showers can produce much more precipitation in warm air than in colder air. That is the reason why flooding is much more common in the summer than in the winter months." 

In the past, Dutch summers counted an average of five days with 50 mm or more rain. In the past decade, that increased to an average of seven or eight days. 

In mid-July, heavy showers caused a great deal of flooding in Limburg. Insurers received nearly 13 thousand flood-related damage claims from the province.