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Code Orange as Fresh Snow Makes Dutch Roads Hazardous

Rijkswaterstaat says light holiday traffic leaves road salt less effective, urging slower driving and wider following distances.

Overview

  • KNMI raised alerts to code orange this morning for parts of Noord- and Zuid-Holland, Utrecht, Gelderland and Noord-Brabant, warning of 5–10 cm of local snowfall and rapidly changing slick conditions.
  • Multiple crashes and disruptions were reported, including repeated accidents on the A50, an overnight A28 closure near Eelde, an A12 detour in Gelderland, and a car sliding into water along the N14 in Wassenaar.
  • Rijkswaterstaat reports large-scale operations since New Year’s—over 78,000 km driven and more than 7 million kg of salt spread—with special ice-busting equipment deployed on the A2 between Den Bosch and Vught.
  • Local services adjusted to the weather: a tramline in Utrecht was previously halted after a car entered the tracks, Alphen aan den Rijn suspended waste collection to clear snow, and Eindhoven Airport advised travelers to monitor flights for possible delays or cancellations.
  • Emergency services remain stretched by non-weather cases, including the investigation into a fatal double shooting of two teenagers in Amsterdam, a successful hour-window water rescue in The Hague, and ongoing searches for a missing 19-year-old in Helmond with support from volunteer teams and the ME.