The police control room in Central and West Brabant was inundated with calls from people on Sunday evening saying it was slippery. Police are not waiting for these reports, a spokesman said. It only makes sense to report emergencies or injury incidents, he insists.
Earlier this evening it was announced that code orange applies to the whole country, including Brabant. The KNMI announced this because frozen ice can cause treacherous slippery conditions everywhere.
Lots of accidents
Slipperiness reported in the southwestern half of the country in the late afternoon. This resulted in incidents in the province of Zeeland and later also in western and central Brabant. Dozens of accident reports have been received in Bergen op Zoom, Steenbergen, Terheijden, Breda and Tilburg, including the A4 and A58 motorways.
It was also hit in Uden and Valkenswaard, among others, later in the evening. In some cases, people were injured, mainly due to property damage. Rijkswaterstaat counts about 150 accidents on the motorways on Sunday evening around a quarter past ten due to black ice.
Police advised people throughout the evening to really stay at home.
Three cars skidded
The occupants of two vehicles traveling on the N69, between Dommelen and Valkenswaard, suffered the consequences of being put on the road. They were coming from the direction of Veldhoven and were heading towards Valkenswaard. In Dommelen they skidded and stopped on the other side of the road against the guardrail.
When the police arrived, another incident took place in the same place. A car also ended up across the street. One of the people in the cars, a young woman, was taken to hospital. The road was closed to traffic in both directions for some time after the accident. The cars will be removed.
Folks down in Helmond
Sunday evening not only dangerously slippery on highways and provincial roads. Pedestrians skidded on Havenplein in central Helmond and several cars were involved in collisions on the road. One victim was taken to hospital.
Rijkswaterstaat, which sprayed profusely, also advised people to travel this Sunday evening only if necessary.
The freezing rain will expand to the northeast and reach the northeast in the second half of the evening. Meanwhile, it’s already raining in the Southwest. Later in the evening and during the night the temperature rises everywhere and the softness disappears.
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