An apartment complex on Galvanistraat in Rotterdam was evacuated on Wednesday evening due to flooding after a fire. A total of 250 people were asked to leave their homes. Two residents were taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, NU.nl reports.
The fire was extinguished fairly quickly. It set off the building's sprinkler system, which caused a lot of water damage, local safety office Veiligheidsregio Rotterdam-Rijnmond said. A number of electrical installations were affected.
The provinces of Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland and Utrecht were faced with heavy rainfall on Wednesday. The A20 to Rotterdam had to be closed for several hours due to flooding. Streets in various places were also under water, NU.nl reports.
Public works department Rijkswaterstaat closed the A20 highway at the Kleinpolderplein junction around 11:00 a.m. because the road surface was under water to such an extent that it was unsafe to drive over it. The highway was reopened around 1:15 p.m.
Flooded streets and traffic problems were the result of heavy rains in the Netherlands on Monday afternoon and night. Oost-Brabant and the Nijmegen-Arnhem region were most affected. Between 20 and 40 millimeters of rain fell in a short period in the east and west of the country, AD reports.
A summer storm that blew across the Netherlands overnight was less severe than the weather services expected. Meteorological institute KNMI withdrew its code orange weather warning for very strong winds just after 11:30 p.m., earlier than expected, RTL Nieuws reports.
Thunderstorms that drew across the Netherlands on Tuesday afternoon and evening caused flooding in many parts of the country, especially in the Rotterdam region. The storms prompted meteorological institute KNMI to issue a code orange weather warning - dangerous weather - for the entire country except the Wadden islands.
While the morning started out sunny in most of the Netherlands, thunderstorms are set to hit the country this afternoon. Meteorological institute KNMI issued a code yellow weather warning for the entire country.
Heavy rains caused many problems in large parts of northern Netherlands on Sunday night. On Twitter local residents complained about flooded streets and buildings, and even water streaming out of the toilet.
Drenthe saw a total of 63 millimeters of rain on Sunday evening, RTL Nieuws reports. Usually the whole Netherlands gets 61 millimeters of rain in the entire month of May.
A cannabis plantation on Hoofdstraat in Kaatsheuvel caused quite a bit of damage to the Zeeman store located beneath it during the early hours of Thursday morning. The owners of the textile store arrived to find the store flooded and covered with parts of the ceiling, the Telegraaf reports.
The fire brigade was called in to the store around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday. When they arrived, water was still seeping down the store's walls. The building's electricity was switched off.
Storms caused flooding in large parts of the Netherlands on Sunday night and during the early hours of Monday morning. The worst of the storms are currently leaving the Netherlands through the north, according to RTL Nieuws.
The fire department in Zuid-Holland had their hands full with reports of flooded houses and cellars, caused by heavy rains during the early hours of Wednesday morning, ANP reports.
Alblasserwaard, with villages such as Alblasserdam and Molenaarsgraaf, in particular had many problems, local safety office Veiligheidsregio Zuid-Holland-Zuid said to ANP. The control room in nearby Hoeksche Waard also received many calls.
Wednesday was a wet and rainy day for the Netherlands. According to Weeronline, between 40 and 45 millimeters of rain fell in the west of Zuid-Holland, the north of Noord-Holland and on the Wadden islands. That's about half of what is usual for the entire month of August.
By Wednesday night Leeuwarden had the most rain, with 52.2 millimeters measured. Places like Grouw and Stavoren also got over 50 millimeters of rain. "Locally the total rainfall can climb up to 60 mm by [Thursday] morning", the weather agency said on Wednesday night.
Engineers in the American city of New Orleans are working with the Dutch government and Dutch researchers to come up with a way to make the Louisiana city more flood-resistant, Huffington Post reports. Twelve years after Hurricane Katrina basically destroyed the city, New Orleans is again facing flooding with Hurricane Harvey heading its way.
Arcadis signed a 11.6 million dollar deal with the American city of Norfolk to help protect the city from flooding, the consulting and engineering firm announced. Part of the water management knowledge will be provided by Arcadis Nederland, ANP reports.
The deal involves coming up with a plan to help the city, located in the state of Virginia, be better protected against and prepared for flooding. Dutch knowledge institutes and the Dutch embassy in Washington are also participating in the project.
Heavy rainfall across the Netherlands caused problems in many places on Wednesday morning. On Tuesday Weerplaza expected up to 50 millimeters of rain to fall in some places on Wednesday. Around 10:00 a.m. the most rain had fallen in Zuid-Holland and Zeeland, about 34 millimeters, according to the weather service.
The risk of large foods on coasts across the world will grow rapidly in the coming decades, according to researchers from Delft water management institute Deltares and the Dutch institute for environmental issues IVM-VU. Due to soil decline and the rising sea level, heavy storms will threaten about 50 percent more people in 2080 compared to the current situation. Damages will also get much bigger and there will be more victims, ANP reports.
Amsterdam hospital VUmc is getting 34.8 million euros in insurance money for damage caused by mass flooding last year this time. The flooding was caused by a break in the water main that left the hospital nonoperational for two weeks.
Many a pedestrian was grateful to The Hague's own superhero who saved them from wet shoes and feet by cycling them through the flooded Holland Spoor tunnel on a cargo bike on Thursday morning
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.
Meteorological institute KNMI issued a code orange weather warning for heavy rain and flooding for the western parts of the Netherlands. This code orange comes on top of the code yellow warning of thunder storms already in effect for the entire country.
Noord-Brabant and Limburg can expect even more heavy rainfalls this morning, according to weather radar site Buitenradar. Rain over the past weeks already left the area with flooded streets and tunnels. And so far the weather shows little chance of changing - the KNMI predicts a 70 - 80 percent chance of rain every day until the weekend.
The heavy rainfalls of the past days put a dike in the German city of Hamminkeln, just across the border from Zevenaar, under so much pressure that it could break at any moment. If the dike in the Issel river is breached it would flood the A3 highway making traffic between Arnhem and Oberhausen impossible
Meteorological institute KNMI issued a code yellow warning for thunderstorms in the Netherlands for the sixth day in a row on Thursday. The storms are expected to hit the eastern parts of the country during the afternoon and evening.
The autumn storm that raged over the Netherlands on Sunday, brought strong winds with it that reached speeds of between 100 and 120 kilometers per hour at its peak on Sunday night. The storm prompted the KNMI to issue a code orange warning for extreme weather conditions for Noord-Holland and the northern provinces.
The municipality of Amsterdam has launched an investigation into the cause of the water main burst in Amsterdam-Zuid on Tuesday morning. The flooding that resulted from the burst lead to the complete evacuation of the VU Medical Center and tens of millions of euros in damages at the hospital.
