damage

​The Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy Eric Wiebes announced that he intends to accelerate the process of decreasing the gas production in Groningen. The minister made the declaration shortly after a relatively strong earthquake, caused by removing natural gas from the ground in the region, shook the province Monday afternoon, according to FD.

A police officer in Eindhoven got his car stuck in a layer of newly poured concrete on Thursday. He was driving on a closed construction site, where a bus stop's paving was being replaced, when he drove right into the concrete, Johan de Krom of the responsible contractor company De Krom B.V. said to Omroep Brabant.

"We just finished the job and put our van at the front of the concrete so that no one could get through, but that police car just drove around us", De Krom said. The contractor and his colleague pulled the stuck police car out with their van. 

Photos and videos posted on social media as they eye of Hurricane Irma passed over Sint Maarten show that the hurricane already did massive amounts of damage on the island. Despite the fact that the island is still on lockdown, and no one is allowed outside, the effects of the hurricane are becoming increasingly visible. 

Storms that started in the Randstad during the early morning hours of Thursday caused around 20 million euros worth of damage, according to the first estimation by the Dutch Association of Insurers. Damage includes for example water damage due to flooding and fallen trees, ANP reports.

A second person was arrested in connection with a fireworks explosion on Zalm in Ridderkerk just after midnight on New Year's. Four people were injured in the explosion and five houses and 12 cars were damaged.

The visually impaired and mentally challenged 71-year old Teun van der Velden from Gemert, Noord Brabant received 60 hours of community sentence for the damage he caused with his cane to a car and a fellow townsman in November last year, AD reported on Monday. The judge found him guilty of damaging property, and ruled him to also pay over 500 euros for the injury he caused to a local resident by waving his cane.

The Mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino, wants a friendly football match between the Netherlands and Italy to be organized, NOS reports. The proceeds of this match could then go towards repairing the damage caused to his city by Feyenoord hooligans last week.

Groningen experienced yet another earthquake at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. The area of Loppersum, Groningen felt a 2.7 magnitude quake on Richter scale, according to the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

Last month, a fire ravaged the home of Bas van Toor, known as Bassie the clown from the television show Bassie en Adriaan. The damage from that fire has been estimated at €100,000, HLN reports.

In Diemen, the flat that was rocked by a gas explosion yesterday is being searched for two missing persons. Two people were killed in the explosion, and another 15 were injured. Due to damage some residents of the flat building may not be able to return home for some time, the NOS reports.

Two Limburgers received an outpouring of support following a television report detailing the vandalism of their car. Wim and Christien were the subject of a piece that aired on Hart van Nederland showing the word "kanker" scratched into the hood of their car in large capital letters.