Flanders measures damage after intense thunderstorms: lightning causes two house fires in Eeklo, roof of warehouse blown off | Weather & Science

In the West Flemish Ledegem, a lightning strike caused a fire on the farm of provincial and municipal councilor Piet Vandermersch (Anders). The top floor of the house suffered heavy damage.

“My future daughter-in-law saw a fireball, but we didn’t actually notice anything right away,” says Piet.

These are sad images: the mill in Huise in East Flanders did not survive the storm. A reader shares these images that show the extent of the devastation.

According to witnesses, a tornado passed in the West Flemish Moen, near Zwevegem. It caused quite a bit of damage and someone was also injured. “It was terrifying. In a matter of minutes the sky turned pitch black and then all hell broke loose.”

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Pop-up bar Barriere opened its doors for the first time on Friday evening in the Tieboutslaan in Anzegem, West Flanders. Not much later they had to close again (for a while). Around 8:30 PM it was decided to quickly dismantle the tent at the bar. “We knew that if we didn’t take the tent down immediately, it would go up into the air,” says manager Bert.

The Flemish Ardennes fire brigade zone has already received 140 reports of damage. “We are mainly out to clear fallen trees,” it sounds.

Part of the terrace at café Den Aard, in Schellebelle in East Flanders, has blown away.

There was also damage at a nearby café: umbrellas were torn from their stands, after which they crashed into parked cars and houses dozens of meters away, a reader reported.

There were many reports of nuisance in the region around Anzegem and Avelgem. There was even talk left and right about a tornado, but that has not been officially confirmed. In any case, there were a striking number of trees, branches and leaves on the roads.

Fire zone Fluvia recorded 215 calls since 6:30 PM, with a peak moment when 139 crews and 35 vehicles were on the road. Many lightning strikes were also spotted in the region.

The heaviest and most thunderstorms are out of the country, the RMI reports. There are a few more local storm cells which can still cause a clap of thunder here and there.

In West Flanders and East Flanders, code yellow for thunderstorms remains in force until midnight. This applies in the other provinces code green againand therefore no major problems are expected anymore due to thunderstorms.

Earlier in the day before Friday evening, the RMI had declared a code orange for several provinces for thunderstorms. The storm caused disruption in several places.

The Midsummer Festival in Ronse was temporarily evacuated on Friday evening due to heavy thunderstorms and gusts of wind.

As a precaution, visitors had to leave the festival grounds and could take shelter in TIO3, the business and event center next to the site. Around 10 p.m. the redeeming news came: the festival could start again.

Photos show smoke escaping from the roof. The fire brigade went to the scene.

The heavy thunderstorm also caused a lot of damage in Lievegem on Friday evening. A tree fell on a car at the Q8 gas station on the Grote Baan. A young woman was taken to hospital in severe distress.

On Several railway lines will no longer run on Friday evening due to stormy weather, for example because things have ended up on the track or the overhead wires have been hit. The spokesperson for the NMBS confirms this.

For example, there are no trains between Tielt and Deinze, between Edingen and Geraardsbergen, between Oudenaarde and The Pinte and between Mechelen and Mechelen-Nekkerspoel.

The heavy thunderstorm also caused damage in Eeklo and Kaprijke on Friday evening. Two house fires broke out in Eeklo, each time probably after a lightning strike. There were no injuries so far.

The storm has now reached the north of the country, reports weatherman David Dehenauw. There is a second thunderstorm above Lille and the north of France with lightning activity, gusts of wind and intense precipitation in a short time. It is also moving towards our countryalthough it will probably be less intense than the local thunderstorms that mainly affected East Flanders.

It will be drier in most places later in the evening and overnight, although local thunderstorms remain possible. They will be less bright.

The highest temperature today within the RMI measuring network was measured in Kleine Brogel. There the mercury rose to 34.7 degrees.

The storm has wreaked havoc in Kruisem. The heavy winds blew down several trees, some of which ended up on a conservatory. The force of the fall also caused damage to fences.

A strong downwind during the storm completely blew down the Huisekouter mill in Huise, near Kruisem. Photos show how the centuries-old mill was severely affected by the force of nature and was destroyed.