2018 is less than a month old and the Dutch greenhouse industry has already been hit twice by Mother Nature's wrath. On January 3, entrepreneurs in the Oostland region were struck by a down draft. Just over two weeks later, a storm struck that hit almost the entire country. Locally, wind speeds of 130 kilometers per hour were measured and so it was not certain whether greenhouses could withstand these forces. In the morning around 9 o'clock, however, the first damage reports came in. In retrospect, the damage at most growers was limited to 10-100 broken windows, as Havecon determined.
The men of Voorwinden are working hard to repair the damage.
The Voorwinden repair teams have been working very hard to be of service to the customers again and to replace the broken windows. "By acting quickly and adequately we try to repair all damage as quickly as possible, so that our customers can continue with the cultivation", they informed us. And that really is quite a lot of work.
Aerial photographs
While repairs are in full swing, insurers are also working on the damage. In a test in the Westland region, damage to greenhouses is being determined by means of aerial imaging.
On Friday afternoon, January 19, PinC Agro took aerial photographs of the damage to greenhouses in the Westland. "We use the photos to test and improve the software for counting the broken windows. The counting is not yet accurate, but the photos are available for the affected entrepreneurs. It gives them insight into the damage so that they can arrange emergency measures and organize repair work effectively", the company reports. The photos show where the greenhouse roof is damaged and so help to arrange emergency measures and repair more precisely. This is done at the request of the insurer.
"We gain experience in collecting data. This enables us to refine the technique and to further develop the method for disasters in a region." Greenhouse horticulture companies in this area that have reported damage to Interpolis, can already get in touch in order to get access to the photos of the damage to their business.
The aerial photographs of a greenhouse horticulture company with damage from the region on the image, will be made available to the entrepreneur as soon as possible. Entrepreneurs who want to have access to their photos should go to www.pincagro.nl/luchtfoto. Entrepreneurs who have reported damage to Interpolis will be contacted by PinC Agro if an e-mail address is known.