Saturday evening's storms led to flooding in various places in Belgium
including Brussels.

West Flanders was hit in the afternoon. Floodwater had to be pumped from
cellars, houses and streets in Menin and Wevelgem near the border with
France. In the evening 1200 people had to be evacuated from a campsite
where an open air music festival was being held.

Parts of Heist-op-den-Berg in Antwerp province were under water and roads in
Antwerp itself were flooded in the evening. In East Flanders Oudenaarde,
Geraardsbergen and Brakel were affected. In Limburg province in NE Belgium
the fire services around Maasmechelen were overwhelmed with calls for help.
Water and mud poured into La Roche-en-Ardenne in the Ardennes from
surrounding fields and the army was called in to assist the fire brigade to
clear the water and mud from buildings. Damage from a small tornado was
reported from there. Tienen, Diest and Leuven to the NE of Brussels were
also affected by flooding.

In Brussels the south of the city was worst affected. Numerous cellars and
some road tunnels were still under water on Sunday morning. A road tunnel
just a mile or so from where I live is flooded with cars floating in the
water. One man had to escape from his car through the sun roof and swim to
safety. Belgian TV news has shown pictures of the metro (underground)
station I use on the way to work with its tracks flooded and water swilling
down the walls.

Rainfall totals from the storms - Brussels Uccle 35 mm, Brussels Airport
39 mm, Ostend Airport 49 mm.
Some amateur sites - Geraardsbergen (between Ghent and Brussels) 45 mm,
Brasschaat near Antwerp 48 mm, Putte (NE of Brussels) 65 mm, Vlimmeren (NE
of Brussels) 70 mm including 50 mm in 45 minutes. In the village of
Rijmenam about 25 km NE of Brussels, 108 mm fell in little over 2 hours in
what the observer called a "gigantic cloudburst".

Colin Youngs
Brussels