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12/5/13

Weather - the Netherlands: Hurricane Strength "Sinterklaas" Storm upgraded to Code Red for Northern Netherlands

At noon today the Dutch meteorology agency KNMI has issued a Code Red weather warning for people living in the north of the Netherlands. The official meteorologists of the Netherlands issued their strong prediction for Friesland, Groningen, IJsselmeer, Noord Holland and the Wadden Sea area, saying that they expect the storm to start taking hold around noon today.

Some schools in the northern Netherlands closed early so children could get home safely to celebrate Sinterklaas -- the traditional Dutch version of Christmas -- with their families.

The Netherlands also closed water barriers to protect the low-lying country from high tides, including the Oosterscheldekering barrier in the southwestern delta region, which was closed for the first time since 2007.
Water authorities in the northern Dutch province of Friesland were patrolling dikes to make sure any breeches or damages from the high tides were quickly repaired. The dikes were built to withstand water levels 5 metres above normal.

Thursday's tide was predicted to be around 3.3 metres higher than normal, the authority said.

Transportation troubles, also spread throughout northwestern Europe. All flights to and from Copenhagen's international airport were halted late Thursday due to the storm, officials said. It was not immediately clear how many passengers were affected or how long the airport -- Scandinavia's largest -- would stay closed.

Almost all flights to and from Hamburg airport in northern Germany were also cancelled, and federal authorities in Germany issued a warning for residents of Hamburg to expect a "very severe tidal flood" at about 6:30 a.m. Friday local time. Residents were urged to evacuate low-lying areas of the port and along the Elbe River.

EU-Digest

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