The Netherlands = occasionally high temperatures (>30 degrees C) for a couple of days = thunderstorms after these few days = major problems
For the last days temperatures were high throughout the country and as usual the expected thunderstorms arrived on Saturday evening. After a beautiful day watching baseball at the Haarlemse Honkbalweek 2010 I spend the evening and night at my parents house. Soon after the start of the World Championship match for place 3 and 4 a big thunderstorm arrived together with poring rain and wind gusts.
We had no problems at all but didn’t notice that some parts of the country were having problems. This, I discovered the next afternoon when I was heading home to Wageningen. From Uithoorn to Amsterdam-Bijlmer-Arena everything was normal. Soon I heard a call from the speakers that no train traffic was possible between Bijlmer-Arena and Schiphol. I wasn’t too bothered by it, since I had to go in the other direction. However, the repetition of the call claimed that no traffic was possible between Bijlmer-Arena, Utrecht and Schiphol. Now I was bothered, cause I had to go over Utrecht.
At first I waited to see what was going to happen, because normally they explain what the alternatives are. Nothing happened and several other passengers tried to find out what to do. Suddenly a train stopped at a different platform, which was going to Utrecht and Nijmegen. I tried to get in, but was too late, as were many others. The NS personnel said that that train wasn’t supposed to stop, and that it was, for sure, the last one going to Utrecht. I wasn’t sure what to do, go back to Uithoorn and try later, or try to find another way. Finally, together with some others I decided to go to Amsterdam Amstel and from there to Utrecht (via Bijlmer-Arena). That train was also delayed, and just in time we went for the tram. After one transfer we arrived at Amstel.
Luckily, trains were driving from Amstel to Utrecht. I got a crowded, delayed train going all the way to my final destination. About 45 minutes later than planned I was home.
The problem???
Lightning stroke at several places around Utrecht causing major problems at the tracks.