The thunderstorm which passed across the Netherlands late on Tuesday night and early on Wednesday morning caused widespread disruption. The storm, which came after two days of tropical temperatures, caused extensive damage as a result of flooding, lightning strikes and blown-over trees.

Rail traffic was seriously affected, with widespread delays and almost no trains left running in the south of the country. A number of electronic systems were knocked out by lightning strikes. In some locations the overhead powerlines broke while in others trees blocked the tracks.

Rail network operator ProRail worked through Wednesday to fix the problems and fewer trains were running as a result. Most of the problems had been resolved by Wednesday afternoon.

(gsh/imm)

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