Staff Writer
Two people were killed and international rail and aviation travel was completely disrupted on Wednesday as a record-breaking summer storm pounded the Netherlands and Germany.
400 flights from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, one of Europe’s busiest hubs, had to be canceled due to Storm Poly’s ferocious winds, which might reach speeds of up to 146 km/h (90 mph).
The storm, which pounded the Netherlands in the summer, was the largest on record, according to meteorologists, who also issued a rare “code red” warning urging millions of residents of the low-lying country to stay indoors.
The Dutch city of Haarlem lost a 51-year-old woman when a tree fell on her automobile, while the German town of Rhede lost a 64-year-old woman when she was injured by a falling tree.
According to local media, two men were gravely hurt in Amsterdam, one when a tree fell on his car and the other possibly by fallen power wires.
No one was wounded when a tree fell on a houseboat in one of Amsterdam’s famed canals and another fell onto a tram in The Hague.
stormy winds
The number of flights, according to Schiphol Airport, will “gradually improve” as the winds began to subside but would still be interrupted for the remainder of the day.
400 flights have currently been canceled, a Schiphol representative told AFP. The airport serves as a significant hub for connecting flights between the United States, the Middle East, and Asia and the rest of Europe.
Many domestic trains were canceled, as were Eurostar trains from Amsterdam to London and high-speed rail services to the German towns of Cologne and Hamburg, according to Dutch train operator NS.
The majority of domestic trains in the Netherlands, including those heading to Schiphol Airport, were canceled, adding to the suffering of passengers.
A journalist with AFP reported that several hundred people, mostly students traveling through Europe for their summer vacations, were stuck at Amsterdam’s central station.
“They informed me that all trains had been canceled. The bus we’re currently on will arrive in Brussels around two in the morning, according to 18-year-old British student Abby Scott.
Ariane Gentile, a 64-year-old teacher, jokingly said, “I’m supposed to go to a party tonight, but I think I might just walk to The Hague.”
Raging winds wreaked havoc across the nation, damaging beach cottages, a school, and even an entire row of trees that fell on houses in a street in Haarlem.
Red alert
In North Holland province, which contains Amsterdam, the government issued a mobile phone alert advising residents to stay inside and only contact overburdened emergency services in “life-threatening” circumstances.
Winds of force 11, the second-highest on the scale, and a gust of 146 km/h were recorded in the northern port of IJmuiden, according to the Dutch meteorological office KNMI.
According to the Dutch weather agency Weerplaza, it was the “first very severe summer storm ever measured” in the nation, and the gusts were also the strongest ever recorded in the summer in the Netherlands.
According to the report, the last recent storm of a comparable strength to impact the Netherlands was in January 2018.
A tiny tornado caused damage but no injuries in the central city of Apeldoorn the day before Storm Poly, according to local media.
The Netherlands has a vast system of water defenses since a third of the country is below sea level, making it vulnerable to extreme weather and the consequences of climate change.
More than 1,836 Dutch persons perished in a catastrophic North Sea storm on the night of January 31 to February 1, 1953.
