Power restored in Gelderland

Most of the 50,000 homes and 7,000 businesses in Gelderland whose power was cut when a military helicopter crashed into a high voltage pylon on Wednesday evening had electricity supplies restored on Friday evening.


Grid operator Continuon told ANP news service that the company had managed to complete temporary repairs to the electricity cables which were brought down in the incident.
It took longer than expected to restore power supplies because several power cables were damaged when they fell into the Waal river.
Meanwhile, the region is counting the cost of the power cut which is expected to run into ‘tens of millions of euros’ says Jan van Kessel, chairman of the joint small businesses (MKB) and employers association (VNO-NCW) cooperation in the area.
The Bommelerwaard area hit by the power cut is mainly rural. ‘The whole economy is at a standstill,’ he told Friday’s Financieele Dagblad. Salary costs alone will be around €9m Van Kessel told the paper.
Businesses will probably be able to claim damages from both the defence department and the grid operator, he said.

Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.

We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.

Make a donation