# Falling trees kill cyclist in Amsterdam and two men in UK

> A cyclist died in Amsterdam on Sunday when a tree fell on him, and Rijkswaterstaat closed the Hollandsche IJsselkering storm barrier for the first time this storm season.

News · published 2026-10-26 07:18 · updated 2026-10-26 10:28 · https://nlnow.nl/a/storm-boelo-kills-two-in-uk-closes-dutch-storm-surge-barrier/

A cyclist died in Amsterdam on Sunday after a tree fell on him during the weekend's storms Austen and Boelo. Two men also died in the United Kingdom on Sunday when trees fell.

Elsewhere in the Netherlands, Rijkswaterstaat closed the Hollandsche IJsselkering, a storm surge barrier at Krimpen aan den IJssel, on Sunday evening to protect the hinterland against high water.

It is the first closure of the storm season, Rijkswaterstaat said. The barrier was expected to reopen around 10:00 on Monday morning. On average it closes three to four times a year.

In north London a man in his twenties died when a tree fell on his car. In Scotland a 60-year-old man died. Gusts reached 135 kilometres per hour in the west of Scotland.

About 800,000 UK households lost power over the weekend as trees and branches hit electricity cables. The trade body Energy Networks Association said the weather hampered repairs, but most homes were reconnected by Sunday evening, when around 90,000 were still without power.

In Zeeland, a water level of 3.40 metres above NAP was expected at Vlissingen around 01:30 on Monday.

Oudeschild on Texel flooded on Sunday evening, with hotels and restaurants no longer accessible. Water was also high in Harlingen. Dozens of flights were cancelled at Schiphol because of strong wind.

## Background

- **Rijkswaterstaat**: The Dutch national agency that manages the main road, motorway, and waterway network, and the country's major water defences. It is part of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and operates structures such as dams, locks, and storm surge barriers. Its decisions, such as closing a storm surge barrier to protect the land behind it from high water, affect public safety across the Netherlands.
- **Energy Networks Association**: The UK trade association representing the companies that operate the electricity and gas networks in the United Kingdom. It speaks on behalf of network operators on matters such as power cuts, repairs, and grid resilience. Its statements explain how the operators are responding to outages caused by severe weather.
- **NAP (Normaal Amsterdams Peil)**: The Dutch national reference level for measuring heights and water levels, based on mean sea level at Amsterdam. Heights and water levels in the Netherlands are given in metres above or below NAP, so a figure such as 3.40 metres above NAP is 3.40 metres higher than that reference. It is used for flood-risk planning, dike heights, and land levels.

From NLnow, news from the Netherlands in English. How stories are made: https://nlnow.nl/about/