The massive carcass of a whale was found in the Vlissingen port on Friday morning, according to non profit group SOS Dolfijn. When pulled from the water, the whale was measured at 15 meters in length, reported Omroep Zeeland.
The fin whale was believed to be a young male, which are capable of growing to a length of 24 meters, according to the WWF. It was found along the bulbous bow of a ship, though it is not clear what caused the whale’s death.
While perhaps more commonly known for floods than droughts, The Netherlands is allocating seven million euros to combat excessively dry seasons in the country. The money will be used to build larger water reservoirs in sandy areas, to monitor levels of evaporation, and to reduce the impact of salinization on drinking water production, the government announced on Friday.
Dutch public works department Rijkswaterstaat is launching an investigation into what consequences small plastic particles that ended up in the Wadden sea after 291 containers fell off a ship in the North Sea last week will have for animals in the area. The investigation will be done in cooperation with scientific institute Waddenacademie in Leeuwarden. The results will also show which measures can be taken so that the Wadden Sea is better protected, NU.nl reports.
Three ships collided with each other on the Waal river near Brakel on Tuesday evening. The ships did not sink, but were damaged. Nobody was hurt, NOS reports.
The cause of the collision is still unclear. It seems to have started with a collision between a container ship and a ship pushing barges with coal. A tanker then crashed into the barges.
Local safety office Veiligheidsregio Gelderland-Zuid said on Twitter that the ships were escorted to the port of Gorinchem. Nothing leaked and there is no danger to the environment, according to the office.
Snow is expected in the Alps this weekend and that is good news for the Rijn river, according to Weeronline. After the weekend the water level in the Rijn will not fall further, and may even rise a bit, the weather service expects.
The snow is expected in France, Switzerland, southern Germany and the northern parts of Austria. "A few dozen centimeters of snow are expected above 1,500 meters. Around 50 millimeters of precipitation will fall and that is good news for the water level in the Rijn", Weeronline writes.
The drought in the Netherlands is still persisting. On Monday afternoon the water level in the Rijn river at Lobith was 6.73 meters above sea level, thereby breaking the previous low record of 6.87 meters from August, De Gelderlander reports.
Landscape ecologist Alphons van Winden expects the water level in the Rijn to drop another 20 to 25 centimeters if it doesn't start raining in the river's catchment area. "As it looks now, we are going to set a new record every day this week. The water level just continues to fall."
Eleven people were rescued at sea after a Dutch freighter collided with a Marshall Islands tanker ship early Tuesday morning. Only one person was injured in the accident, and was being treated at a hospital for hypothermia.
Thursday was a big day for drug busts in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant. Authorities there made two major busts in different regions of the country, with investigators seizing nearly a ton of cocaine and marijuana combined.
The Netherlands will also be affected by the national strike happening in Belgium today. Traveling to and from the striking country is likely to be quite a challenge.
A search and rescue was on for the better part of the day, off the coast of Trelleborg in Sweden, for two Filipino sailors who reportedly went overboard on the Dutch freight ship Marietje Andrea, Thursday, around 08:00.
