Storm Dudley keeps house: problems on Utrecht highways, trees on cars and a dangling traffic light

Road users must take the storm into account. The advice is to adapt the driving style, although from a national perspective it seems to be not too bad with the traffic nuisance.

There is a tree on the road on the parallel carriageway of the A12 at the Lunetten junction in Utrecht, which causes considerable traffic jams, also on the connecting A27 and A28. Bus lines 41, 43, 44 and 50 are delayed due to the traffic.

Rijkswaterstaat: “The wind is still too strong to remove the tree, we expect to be able to do this after the morning rush hour. Until then, the road will remain closed.” Traffic can continue on the main carriageway of the A12 and turn at De Meern.

Due to the strong wind, the rush hour lane on the A27 towards Utrecht between Hagestein and Houten was closed for a while this morning. “The wind is especially strong on the Hagesteinsebrug and with the closing of the rush-hour lane there is more room for traffic to deviate if necessary in the event of a gust of wind,” Rijkswaterstaat reported. The wind had eased somewhat around 07:15 and the rush-hour lane was reopened.

A tree fell on a car on the Grote Beer in Veenendaal last night. The driver of the Mini couldn’t avoid him anymore. The tree landed on the roof.

The woman was not injured, but the car was badly damaged. The fire brigade sawed the tree into pieces and a salvage company took the Mini with them. The road was closed for some time due to the incident.

Things went wrong at Pieter Jelles Troelstralaan in Amersfoort around 04.25 am this morning. A tree fell on a parked car there. The Peugeot sustained significant damage. A tree also landed on a car on the Cornelis Houtmanstraat in Bunschoten.

The Rondweg in Houten was closed for a short time last night between the De Sloot district and the intersection with Limesbaan. A tree was blown down by the strong wind and the road was blocked.

Firefighters came to cut the tree into pieces and clear the way. The section between the intersection in the direction of the De Sloot district could be reopened quickly, but the closure in the other direction lasted about an hour.

Emergency services also had to take action for a car to be launched on the N212. Strong gusts of wind are believed to have been the cause of the accident.

The motorist was driving from the N201 on the N212 towards Wilnis when he hit the water at the Mijdrechtse Dwarstocht. Bystanders immediately raised the alarm and emergency services arrived en masse. The driver was already out of the vehicle and was taken home after being checked by paramedics.

The N212 between Wilnis and Vinkeveen was closed for salvage work after the accident. Traffic had to detour over the Mijdrecht industrial estate or through Vinkeveen for more than an hour.

The fire brigade went with two cars to the Noordewierweg in Amersfoort last night. At the back of a Chinese Indian Restaurant, an approximately seven-meter high metal chimney with only two cables was found to be stuck.

The situation could only be solved for the time being by lowering the pipe. The job was completed around 10:15 PM.

In Nieuwegein, a traffic light came loose at the intersection Waterliniedok-Defensiedok due to the strong wind. The traffic light dangled above the road.

The fire brigade came to put an end to the dangerous situation. From the aerial platform, the traffic light was fixed again within a few minutes. One lane was temporarily closed to allow the fire service to do its job.

At measuring point IJmuiden it came to an average wind force 9 tonight between 8 pm and 9 pm. This is officially a storm, the fourth of this winter. Dudley has a long breath and can still cause damage today. Therefore, code yellow remains in effect.

At the end of the afternoon and tonight it all calms down again and the wind from the south decreases in strength. You cannot enjoy the peace for long, because the even heavier storm Eunice is expected on Friday. Very strong gusts of wind can then have a major impact, Weeronline reports. “There is a high risk of storm damage to buildings, branches of trees can break and especially weak trees can blow over. Trees in forests can also be blown over or damaged en masse and the damage to buildings can be significant in the places where the heaviest wind gusts occur. Road traffic can also suffer a lot from the wind gusts.”