Thousands of farmers are heading towards The Hague on Wednesday morning to again protest against the government's nitrogen policy. The police ordered the farmers to stay off the highways with their tractors. Public works department Rijkswaterstaat therefore expects a morning rush hour that is no busier than usual, NU.nl reports.
Nature
Feb 19 '20 07:37
Feb 17 '20 09:08
Strong winds will hit the Netherlands around noon on Monday. Meteorological institute KNMI issued a code yellow warning for the entire country except the Wadden Islands, warning of gusts reaching up to 85 kilometers per hour.
The code yellow warning first takes effect in the coastal provinces at 11:00 a.m., spreading inland around noon and 1:00 p.m. The winds are expected to die down again during the late afternoon. "Traffic and outside activities may be hindered. Follow weather reports and warnings," KNMI warns.
Feb 17 '20 08:09
A 19-year-old woman from Neerkant died in hospital on Sunday night, succumbing to injuries sustained in a car accident in Heusden earlier that day. The authorities believe a gust of strong wind, due to storm Dennis, blew the car off the road, after which it struck a tree, police said.
"She was seriously wounded and taken to the hospital. She died there due to her injuries early in the evening," police said in a statement.
Feb 16 '20 09:42
The Netherlands was placed on a Code Yellow weather alert due to high winds brought by winter storm Dennis. The Code Yellow warning took effect overnight along the northern coast, and covered the whole country from 8 a.m. on Sunday.
Feb 14 '20 16:50
Storm Dennis is on its way and expected to hit the Netherlands during the early hours on Sunday morning, followed by a stormy day with unseasonably mild temperatures, according to Weeronline. Dennis will bring strong winds with it, with gusts up to 110 kilometers per hour. Maximum temperatures on Sunday are expected to range between 14 and 17 degrees.
The strongest winds brought by Dennis are expected during the early hours of Sunday morning, though the rest of the morning and around noon will also be windy. The day will be predominantly cloudy, with showers expected.
Feb 13 '20 09:10
Over the past two decades it has become increasingly difficult to clean water from the Rhine enough to be suitable for drinking water. Despite agreements to make the water in the river cleaner, the quality has deteriorated, partly due to more and new unwanted substances therein. On Thursday the Ministers of the five countries the Rhine flows through will meet in Amsterdam to make new agreements regarding the river, NOS reports.
In the Netherlands, some 5 million people get their tap water from the Rhine.
Feb 13 '20 07:57
Companies who offer CO2 compensation - a popular offer among airlines and travel agencies - rarely deliver on what they promise. The projects in which they invest fall short, and there is barely an effect on climate change, Trouw reports based on its own research and discussions with dozens of Dutch CO2 compensation providers, labels and scientists.
Feb 12 '20 10:00
Amsterdam plans to produce enough sustainable energy by 2030 to supply the electricity demands of 80 percent of the city's households. The Regional Energy Strategy (RES) presented by the mayor and aldermen on Wednesday shows that Amsterdam aims to generate 127 megawatts of wind energy, 400 megawatts of solar energy on large roofs, and 150 megawatts of solar energy on small roofs when the next decade arrives.
Feb 12 '20 08:01
Cargo ship OOCL Rauma lost five containers in the North Sea, north of Ameland on Tuesday afternoon. The responding Coast Guard spotted three containers floating in the water, one of which was open. Rolls of paper was floating around it, RTL Nieuws reports.
The ship was en route from Kotka in Finland to Rotterdam. The skipper himself reported the lost cargo to the Coast Guard, which deployed an auxiliary ship and a airplane to search for the lost containers. Darkness fell before the containers could be retrieved. The search will continue on Wednesday.
Feb 11 '20 14:19
Winter storm Ciara caused an estimated 150 million euro in damages when it ripped through the Netherlands on Sunday and Monday. The damage estimate was far less than the destruction caused by a storm in January 2018, when 450 million euros in claims were filed.
Feb 11 '20 13:30
With winter storm Ciara just behind us, and strong winds still blowing along the coast, the next storm is already on the horizon. This coming weekend will again be very windy, according to Buienradar. "There is a big chance of very strong gusts on Sunday. We may have to deal with storm Dennis," meteorologist Maurice Middendorp said to RTL Nieuws.
Feb 11 '20 07:38
Strong winds continue to blow along the coast of the Netherlands on Tuesday. Schiphol warned travelers that this can lead to more canceled and delayed flights. Travelers association ANWB also warned road users to be aware of the strong winds and adjust their driving behavior accordingly.
By 7:20 a.m., Schiphol reported 47 canceled departures, 51 canceled arrivals, and dozens of delays on its website. There are also many gate changes for departures, so travelers are advised to check their flight information carefully.
Feb 10 '20 16:10
The fire brigade responded to a total of 2.247 reports of storm damage and flooding while winter storm Ciara was raging in the Netherlands on Sunday.
Feb 10 '20 14:30
Strong winds in the aftermath of winter storm Ciara were still causing major problems at the Netherlands' five airports on Monday. Schiphol Airport alone reported 280 cancellations and 330 delayed flights.
Feb 10 '20 08:29
Winter storm Ciara, which hit the Netherlands on Sunday and was still causing traffic problems on Monday morning, was stronger than expected, according to a Weeronline meteorologist Yannick Damen. The strong winds caused damage across the Netherlands, mainly in the form of blown down trees, house facades, and roof tiles. But as far as is known, there were no major incidents, NOS reports.
Feb 10 '20 07:44
The last bits of winter storm Ciara is still affecting all types of traffic in the Netherlands. Hundreds of flights are canceled at Schiphol for Monday. NS reports a dozen problems on the tracks. And ANWB and Rijkswaterstaat warn of a very busy morning rush hour on the road. Commuters are advised to keep an eye on weather reports and travel planners.
Meteorological institute KNMI still has a code yellow weather warning in place for the whole country, warning of strong winds with gusts up to 100 kilometers per hour. The wind is expected to die down by late morning.
Feb 8 '20 18:12
The Netherlands was placed on high alert with winter storm Ciara set to bring very high winds and heavy showers to the country on Sunday and Monday. The entire country faces a series of Code Yellow and Code Orange weather alerts throughout the day, as wind gusts could reach up to 120 kilometers per hour.
Feb 8 '20 17:30
An impending winter storm on Sunday prompted Dutch football association KNVB to suspend all matches that day. Four matches in the top level Eredivisie will be rescheduled, as well as the country's full slate of amateur football matches, the KNVB said on Saturday.
The Eredivisie matches include FC Utrecht vs. Ajax, AZ vs. Feyenoord, Sparta Rotterdam vs. ADO Den Haag, and FC Emmen vs. FC Twente.
Feb 7 '20 15:10
Members of the Dutch cabinet met with representatives of a nonprofit organization that pushed the government down a path towards urgent and immediate greenhouse gas reductions. The meeting followed a landmark ruling in December by the Dutch Supreme Court over greenhouse gas emissions in a case brought by climate organization Urgenda.
Feb 7 '20 13:30
A sunny Friday will give way to an increasingly cloudy Saturday in the run-up to the first storm of the year to hit the Netherlands on Sunday, according to Weeronline. Winter storm Ciara will bring strong winds with gusts up to 140 kilometers per hour, rain and lightning with it, the weather service expects.
Feb 6 '20 08:25
The head of public works department Rijkswaterstaat allowed Amsterdam construction company Bontrup to dump thousands of tons of waste in a natural lake in Gelderland, the Volkskrant reports based on research by Zembla. Rijkswaterstaat approved this dumping shortly after former Foreign Affairs Minister Halbe Zijlstra became involved, according to the newspaper.
The waste involved is granulite, which is a byproduct of processing granite and sandstone. It is considered "soil" by the Dutch authorities, but concerns about its effects on the environment were raised in 2018.
Feb 6 '20 07:34
Wild animal populations in both the Netherlands' open natural areas and in the agricultural landscaped halved since 1990, according to the Living Planet Report Netherlands published by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on Thursday. According to the report, the high nitrogen precipitation - largely caused by livestock farming - is the main culprit behind the decline, NU.nl reports.
Feb 3 '20 14:30
Forestry association Staatsbosbeheer is still not allowed to cull any more red deer in nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen, the court ruled on Monday in a lawsuit filed by multiple nature organizations, NU.nl reports.
Feb 3 '20 12:50
No new oil- or gas fields were discovered in the Dutch part of the North Sea last year, Financieele Dagblad reports based on figures from research agency TNO. The Netherlands has a need for new gas- and oil fields, because the current fields are getting older and emptier, according to the newspaper.
Extracting gas and oil from domestic soil is good for the treasury and it limits the need for imports from other countries. In 2004, the Netherlands extracted 29 billion cubic meters of gas. That has since fallen to 11.3 billion cubic meters.
