Tuesday afternoon and evening’s thunderstorms led to the busiest rush hour on the roads this year, with over 1,150 kilometres of jams by 5.30 pm, the ANWB motoring organisation said.

It took two hours for the jams to ease and it appeared that many people had gone home earlier than normal, possibly to avoid the forecast heavy rain, the ANWB said.

Strong winds and torrential rain hit large parts of the country, particularly Limburg and Noord- and Zuid-Holland, with between 10 and 40 millimetres falling in places.

In Oisterwijk a supermarket was forced to close its doors because of the torrents of water and in Overlangel locals had to move their cars to higher ground because of the floods. In Amsterdam, extremely strong gusts of wind blew down several trees, one of which hit delivery van, but no one was injured.

There was also flash flooding on several streets in Laren, according to Omroep West while in Noordwijk, the garage and storage units under a block of flats flooded.

Today and the rest of the week will be windy and overcast with sunny spells and showers, and temperatures around 19°, according to the KNMI weather bureau. By the coming weekend, it will be warmer, and thunderstorms are again likely.