Storm Boelo cancels 149 KLM flights and blocks rail lines
A falling tree killed a cyclist in Amsterdam on Sunday. Wind cancelled 149 KLM flights and blocked rail lines, and the KNMI kept code yellow in force until 02:00.
A cyclist died on the Sloterweg in Amsterdam Nieuw-West on Sunday when a tree blown over by autumn storm Boelo fell on him. He was found at the end of the afternoon. The KNMI, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, has code yellow in force until 02:00, warning of gusts of 70 to 95 kilometres per hour, mainly in coastal areas.
Late on Saturday evening a tree fell on a moving car on the Molenaarsweg in Amsterdam-Noord. The driver was taken to hospital seriously injured. Trees also fell on parked cars, a spokesperson for the Amsterdam safety region said.
The Amsterdam fire brigade was called out several times on Sunday to fallen trees or branches. Firefighters removed large branches that could be dangerous and handed other vulnerable large trees to the municipality. “The trees still carry a lot of leaves and so catch a lot of wind,” the spokesperson said. “That means trees can blow over with much less force.”
Flights and trains
Dozens of flights from Schiphol were cancelled because of the strong westerly wind. A Schiphol spokesperson said not all runways were available, so fewer aircraft could arrive and depart. KLM said 149 flights to and from Schiphol were cancelled, and that all passengers were told on Saturday and rebooked.
No trains ran between Haarlem and Zandvoort on Sunday evening because of a tree on the track. Between Haarlem and Amsterdam Centraal, fewer sprinter trains ran. The NS journey planner shows the disruption lasting into the night to Monday.
In The Hague, blown-away building parts badly damaged parked cars. A water sports enthusiast went missing off the coast at Scheveningen on Sunday afternoon; the Haaglanden safety region said the search was suspended because wind and high waves hampered it. In Veenendaal, part of the roof of an events centre came down in heavy rain and wind.
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KNMI (Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut)
The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute is the Dutch national weather service. It measures and forecasts weather, studies climate, and monitors earthquakes in the Netherlands. It issues the weather warnings in colour codes (yellow, orange and red) that people here see in the news and on apps, and those warnings tell the public and emergency services how serious a storm, rain or other weather event is expected to be.