Video: Severe winds tear off roof in Roosendaal, lightning sparks Barneveld house fire
Powerful winds and severe weather overnight caused damage across the Netherlands, tearing roofs from homes in Roosendaal and sparking a house fire in Barneveld after a lightning strike, authorities said. Emergency services received multiple reports of storm damage overnight, most of them in the western part of the province, with significantly fewer reports in the east.
The storm system brought heavy rain and strong gusts overnight, prompting the KNMI to issue a nationwide code yellow weather alert. The warning has since been lifted. Gusts near Rotterdam reached nearly 100 kph, with the strongest winds along the coast.
In Roosendaal, a roof from a row of houses on Kastanjeberg collapsed Sunday night due to strong winds. According to Omroep Brabant, residents were forced to leave their homes. It is still unclear how many houses were affected. Several solar panels were also blown off and fell, with some ending up in a nearby tree. Firefighters used an aerial platform to remove loose sections of the roof that remained unstable.
Elsewhere in Roosendaal, storm damage was also reported on Paulusdonk, where a tree fell onto a parked car overnight, severely damaging it. Firefighters cut the tree into pieces and moved them aside, and a recovery company was called to tow the vehicle. No one was injured.
In Barneveld, lightning struck a thatched roof, causing a fire. Firefighters climbed onto the roof to extinguish the blaze, which was brought under control after about an hour. The house has been declared temporarily uninhabitable.
Emergency services in Friesland responded twice to incidents on the N31 near Marsum, between Leeuwarden and Harlingen. In the first, a car collided with a tree that had fallen onto the road. No one was injured, but the road was briefly closed to clear debris.
Shortly afterward, a second accident at the same exit involved multiple vehicles. Omrop Fryslân reported that one car overturned. It is not clear whether the second crash was related to the earlier incident. Authorities had not confirmed any injuries in the second accident as of early morning.
Weather conditions are expected to remain unsettled through the day, with frequent showers and a chance of hail and thunderstorms. Conditions are forecast to improve slightly tomorrow, but winds are expected to strengthen again heading into the Easter weekend, bringing more cloud cover and periods of rain.
