Two people were injured in Amsterdam when a tree fell on their car in separate, but similar incidents, a police spokesperson said. One incident happened on the Scheldestraat in the Rivierenbuurt, and the other on the Beethovenstraat in Amsterdam-Zuid. Trees were knocked over during Storm Poly elsewhere in the city, and in Noord-Holland. Trees fell at several points on one stretch of the A9, trapping people in their vehicles.
The victim on Scheldestraat was able to crawl out of the car by himself, but then fell unconscious, a police spokesperson said. He was taken to and area hospital. On Beethovenstraat, the victim was trapped in their car and was freed by the fire brigade. The victim remained conscious during the incident, police said.
The Amsterdam police received "a huge number of reports" about dozens of fallen trees and storm damage. A tree has also fallen on a bus and on a houseboat on the Nieuwe Keizersgracht. There were no known injuries immediately announced.
Although many reports came in, the 112 emergency line was not overloaded. "We are also asking people to only call in case of emergency and life-threatening situations, not in case of damage," said the spokesperson.
The fire brigade in Amsterdam also said that 112 was not overloaded. "We are receiving a lot of reports, so it is difficult to get an overview. But so far it is still manageable," said a spokesperson.
Damage claims already started
Storm Poly caused damage elsewhere in the Netherlands on Wednesday morning. The first damage reports have already been submitted to insurer Interpolis, a spokesperson said.
So far, the number of damage reports has been "better than expected," Interpolis said, with only a few dozen claims made. Interpolis could not immediately say from which region the reports came in. A Code Red weather warning was in effect in the northwest of the country because of the storm.
There are reports on social media from various fire services about storm damage due to fallen trees, and blown over fences and scaffolding, such as in Hazerswoude-Rijndijk in ZuidHolland. Poly is the second severe July storm in the Netherlands in more than a hundred years.
On Twitter, various security regions appealed to people, asking them not to immediately call 112 for storm damage. "Only call 112 in emergencies," said the Kennemerland Security Region. Earlier in the morning, this security region also warned that a flood of calls to the national emergency line could overload the system in that region.
If there is no emergency, but the fire brigade is needed on site, people in the Netherlands can call 0900-0904.
Several highways closed by fallen trees
Several highways were closed on Wednesday morning due to trees blown over during the storm. These include closures on the A9, A6 and A10, Rijkswaterstaat reports. A truck was blown over, and a box truck overturned, according to the infrastructure agency.
We adviseren vanwege #stormpoly om in de provincies Noord-Holland, Flevoland en Friesland NIET de weg op te gaan. Waarom zie je in het filmpje hieronder, vanaf de #A9 bij Uitgeest. Meer info: https://t.co/dXmrfEIZSz pic.twitter.com/I9Rl9AvpKk
— Rijkswaterstaat Verkeersinformatie (@RWSverkeersinfo) July 5, 2023
The A9 motorway from Alkmaar to Amstelveen was closed between Akersloot and Uitgeest, Rijkswaterstaat reported shortly after 8:30 a.m. The problem was ongoing nearly two hours later.
"Due to the amount of large trees on the road, it is currently difficult to open them again. There is also trapped traffic. We are doing our best to direct these road users away as quickly as possible. Various emergency services are present," Rijkswaterstaat said.
Soon after 8:30 a.m., the left lane was closed at Nieuwerbrug on the A12 towards The Hague due to fallen trees. And for the same reason, shortly before 9 a.m., the A10 towards Watergraafsmeer, the inner ring road, was closed between Oostzaan and Landsmeer. The A6 towards Lelystad between the Almere and Lelystad interchanges was also closed due to fallen trees.
The first overturned truck was spotted on the A9 towards Amstelveen at Kooimeerplein. On the A5 towards Hoofddorp, a box truck overturned between IJmuiden and the Raasdorp junction, which led to the closure of the left lane, just like on the A9 at Kooimeerplein. Furthermore, the Markerwaarddijk (N307) between Enkhuizen and Lelystad is closed to all traffic due to the heavy gusts of wind.
In addition to heavy gusts of wind hindering traffic, there is also a lot of rain locally, Rijkswaterstaat said. As a result, there is flooding on the A5 near Amsterdam-Westpoort.
Rijkswaterstaat called on people in Noord-Holland, Flevoland and Friesland to stay off the road. "The driving conditions are very dangerous."
