When cows fly

January 18, 2018 12:04 PM

Two people were killed during the second storm this year in the Netherlands. There was extensive damage. Roofs were torn off of buildings, cargo containers were blown off a dock, buildings collapsed and trees fell on houses and cars. The storm started in the morning and blasted the country for several hours. NRC posted this (non-gruesome) report in pictures. And if you're eager to see footage made and shared by Twitter users, don't miss out on #storm and #westerstorm.
posted by Too-Ticky (21 comments total)

I'm currently on episode four of Swell on the SundanceNow. It's about a storm breaching the dykes and the personal and political fallout. It's interesting but not quite good. It doesn't really play out the consequences as much as it could and instead focuses on some soap operatic interpersonal drama and political machinations.
posted by srboisvert at 12:10 PM on January 18, 2018

Godverdomme! Houd vast!
posted by humboldt32 at 12:20 PM on January 18, 2018

I saw a compilation of twitter videos this morning on facebook, and it all looked quite awful, until I saw a porta-potty being blown down a fietspad in what looked like a porta-potty land speed record.

Hudson's Bay Leiden lost their flag, and in a bit of opportune marketing, was offering a hundred euro to anyone who found it and brought it back. That post was all over my feed today, well worth a hundred euro in advertising (assuming the flag is even found).
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:20 PM on January 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

Here in Amsterdam they told everyone to stay indoors and stopped all tram service and all flights from Schiphol.
So we stayed inside and watched the high winds through our windows. Nothing super-exciting. Somebody's laundry flying by at high speed and some large birds attempting to fly: One pigeon was flapping its wings and not moving and then just gave up and started going backwards.
posted by vacapinta at 12:26 PM on January 18, 2018 [9 favorites]

Mr Too-Ticky made it to work in Utrecht without incident, but then the trains stopped going, and so he could not get home the normal way. He hitched a ride with a collegue and should be home soon now. I was home all morning and afternoon, the house made some pretty odd noises... and I was worried about our solar panels, but it seems that we weighted them down with enough pavement tiles.
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:36 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

The video of the poor man at this link who was toppled by the wind is remarkable. Does anyone have any idea how fast a gust of wind would have to be to ROLL a grown man along the ground like that?
posted by Transl3y at 1:55 PM on January 18, 2018

Wind gusts were reported as topping out at 90mph. I have no idea how fast they were blowing in that link though.

The winds are gusting at about 50mph here at the moment and it sounds like my roof is going to blow off. I cannot begin to imagine 90mph.
posted by elsietheeel at 2:02 PM on January 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

Bits of the house next door's roof blew off this morning — like 5 or 6 solid chunks of masonry. They landed with an almighty smash and clatter in the street below, which was thankfully empty at the time. I went out and cleared it up while keeping a wary eye on the rooftops for more falling debris. It was quite exciting. But probably also a bit stupid of me.
posted by ZipRibbons at 2:24 PM on January 18, 2018

Rogue wave in Spain.
posted by srboisvert at 3:15 PM on January 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

Some video clips on BF.
posted by theora55 at 3:45 PM on January 18, 2018

I hope nobody was in this particular convenience...

Anyone able to translate what the guy with the camera is saying about the guy with a leafblower out in the wind?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:47 PM on January 18, 2018

Not very exciting commentary I'm afraid. Something like: "Code red, storm, so get the leafblower"
posted by Kosmob0t at 4:10 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Rogue wave in Spain.

New England surfcasters call that a "sneaker wave" - as in a huge wave that "sneaks" in with the normal rough surf during a storm. They kill one or two anglers a year.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:17 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Rogue wave in Spain.

wow...that was insane. mr supermedusa even stopped gaming to watch that video and gape at that insanity.
posted by supermedusa at 5:51 PM on January 18, 2018

(Over here in Northern California, it's not at all windy at the coast but thanks to a giant system out in the Pacific, 60-foot waves are coming to spots like Mavericks).

These winds are....yikes! I have been in conditions way less windy than this and it's been impressive and scary. I can't really imagine trying to walk around in winds so strong they'll knock you off your feet and roll you along the ground!
posted by rtha at 6:42 PM on January 18, 2018

Time to read Heavy Weather again.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 6:54 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

I wonder what happened to all the pretty greenhouses we wee admiring a few months ago during the FPP about how the Netherlands is so productive for vegetables?
posted by fshgrl at 10:57 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Well, there is some damage to them, for sure. But overall it seems to be fairly limited. Previous storms have caused damage of 100 - 200 millions € each, all kinds of damage taken together. Greenhouse owners have insurance for that, I suppose that's pretty expensive... but in cases like this it keeps them out of bankruptcy.

Dropping this article into GoogleTranslate should give you some idea of the extent of the damage.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:34 AM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

So that's where a video of a stack of containers falling was coming from. There's "scary weather" and "4 ton container stack jenga" weather.
posted by lmfsilva at 9:38 AM on January 19, 2018

These clips remind me of living in Boulder. It’s no fun riding your bike against the Chinook winds.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 3:33 PM on January 19, 2018

Na, I no accepteer de cookies.
posted by boilermonster at 11:36 PM on January 21, 2018