A person has died after her car was hit by a tree in the city of Haarlem. Several people are injured after trees fall in Amsterdam. The strong wind causes major problems in traffic in the middle of the tourist season. Storm Poly affects traffic to and from the airport on Wednesday, which is one of Europe’s busiest. 400 flights have been canceled on Wednesday, including several departures to Norway. HAVE TO WAIT: Passengers play cards while waiting at the airport in Amsterdam Photo: EVERT ELZINGA / AFP Air traffic will be limited until 4 p.m., a spokesperson told Reuters. Currently, three departures to Oslo, one departure to Bergen and one departure to Stavanger are affected by the settings, according to an overview on the airport’s website. Also hitting the trains Rail traffic in the Netherlands is also affected by Poly, and at Alkmaar outside Amsterdam a lorry overturned and blocked an important motorway. ALSO AFFECTS THE TRAINS: People board a train from Schiphol after the trains stood still for a period due to storms. Photo: RAMON VAN FLYMEN / AFP With wind speeds of up to 40 meters per second, the storm hit the North Sea coast. Trees have been blown over, and the authorities are asking people to stay inside. In the north of the country, the meteorologists have issued a red warning for four regions. Woman died A woman in the city of Haarlem, just west of Amsterdam, died after being hit by a tree that fell over during the storm Poly, the local police said. In Amsterdam, several people are injured after trees fell to the ground and destroyed cars and houseboats, reports Reuters. STRONG WIND: A tree has fallen over a car in Haarlem in the Netherlands. Photo: REMKO DE WAAL / AFP In the port city of IJmuiden, a strong storm has been measured – which means sustained wind speeds of around 30 meters per second – and the weather service Weerplaza says this is the strongest summer storm ever recorded in the country. It is also in IJmuiden that the strongest gusts of wind have been measured, with a speed of just over 40 meters per second. With a third of the country’s area below sea level, the Netherlands is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather and climate change. HAARLEM: A man walks his dog past an area where a number of trees have fallen on homes Photo: REMKO DE WAAL / AFP Coming to Norway The storm named Poly is the Netherlands’ strongest in a summer month. It is also the most powerful since January 2018, according to Weeronline. The remnants of the storm will reach Norway, but will not have the same effect here, reports the Meteorological Institute. “Tomorrow we will recover the remains of this storm center, but fear not, Southern Norway! Dangerous weather is not in the forecasts, so we can breathe a sigh of relief,” Meteorologists write on Twitter. The storm is expected to subside in the Netherlands during the evening.
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