Severe storm leaves two dead in Netherlands

Jan 18, 2007, 17:18 GMT

Amsterdam - A severe storm with winds gusting up to 130 kilometres an hour and lashing rain hit the Netherlands from the south-west Thursday, killing two people, disrupting transport and leaving a trail of destruction.

Two people died when a falling tree hit their car near Arnhem on the border with Germany, and six were hurt when a crane was blown onto a building in Utrecht.

Six more were hurt when a bus was blown off course near the town of Tholen and crashed into a tree.

The National Crisis Centre issued an urgent warning to remain indoors, as schools and offices shut down in the worst storm since October 2002.

The storm was expected to blow itself out in the late evening, the winds turning from southwesterly to northwesterly.

Some 1,600 cubic metres of crude oil flowed into the harbour at Rotterdam after a container ship broke its moorings and rammed a quay belonging to the major oil terminal in Europe's largest port.

Port traffic was severely disrupted.

Official websites and switchboards were overloaded with queries.

The rail stations in Amsterdam and Utrecht were partly closed and rail traffic badly disrupted. Goods trains ceased operating entirely.

Many bus services were hit and there were severe delays at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, as flights were cancelled.

The authorities issued a warning to motorists not to use the roads if at all possible, in the first such use of the 'traffic alarm' since it was instituted in November 2005.

Pumping stations were reported working at full power to prevent flooding of the low-lying polders.

The main A2 motorway linking Amsterdam with Maastricht was closed through flooding near Utrecht, resulting in tailbacks throughout the day reaching up to 30 kilometres.