Groningen and Drenthe seem to have weathered the violence of summer storm Poly reasonably well. “Paths are strewn with branches, but it’s not as bad here as in North Holland,” says Fred Prak of Natuurmonumenten.
Nature lovers should watch out. “Of course there is damage,” says Prak. Because the trees are in full leaf, they had to catch much more wind than is the case during a winter storm. Prak compares it to a sailing boat: the skipper can lower the sails during a storm, so that it catches less wind. For trees this was as if the sails were still fully hoisted: they took the full blow. Has the drought of several weeks made the trees more vulnerable? “No, that was not really the case with us in nature.”
Visitors to forests will see that many branches are still lying on the ground or hanging half broken in the trees. “But to say it is disastrous; no.”
Tree falls violently
Jelka Vale also sees this, she is a forester at Staatsbosbeheer in the wooded Westerwolde. “We are now covering routes to see how bad it is, but it seems to be not too bad in our forests.” everything come down.
Prak van Natuurmonumenten: “A tree does not give a warning if it falls over. That is really violent. You don’t jump aside for that.” In some forests, paths will be closed, for example with ribbons. “Respect that too and don’t take any risks. We don’t turn it off for nothing,” says Prak. Rangers are clearing the damage with chainsaws.
Hans Alting, spokesman for Staatsbosbeheer Drenthe, ‘does not yet have the overall picture’, he says. “It seems that Drenthe is not too bad with the damage. Our rangers are busy clearing paths. I expect most paths to be cleared by now.” However, there will be extra sweeping or blowing on the cycle paths. “Because everything is now so full in the magazine, they are full of magazine confetti. We don’t want that to get slippery, so we’re going to wipe that off.”
The fallen trees and branches are not removed everywhere, says Alting. “In more natural forests, we often leave fallen trees. Death also brings life. Fallen trees are a good, natural place for plants and fungi.”
According to an initial estimate by the Dutch Association of Insurers, the insured damage in the Netherlands to homes, cars and commercial buildings due to the storm amounts to 50 to 100 million euros.
Road inspectors at work by Poly
Road inspectors from Rijkswaterstaat in the Northern Netherlands were ‘very busy’ on Wednesday due to summer storm Poly, says a spokesperson. A number of trees fell on the road, but this did not cause any damage to the asphalt or guardrails. However, it caused a lot of inconvenience.
“A tree is level across two road halves, which causes a lot of inconvenience.” Among other things, a tree fell on the road on the A7 between Leek and Hoogkerk. And also between Ter Apel and Musselkanaal on the N366, traffic came to a standstill because of a branch that threatened to fall.
In such a case, help is called in from contractors who have contracts with Rijkswaterstaat. ,,They are called, it has been agreed with them that they can be on location quickly.” It is then the contractors who clear the road of fallen trees or blown-off branches.
2023-07-07 08:38:00
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