Areas in the east of Belgium were affected by heavy rainfall from a thunderstorm that arrived from the Netherlands on Thursday. But in the centre of Belgium the impact was minimal.
The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) forecast heavy rain and thunderstorms in several places across Belgium, issuing code yellow in Brussels, Flemish Brabant, Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Hainaut, Namur and Walloon Brabant. But a slow rain zone meant that precipitation was concentrated in the east.
In Lanaken, in the province of Limburg, where the storm zone arrived around 19:00 on Thursday, rain flooded several streets and at least a dozen cellars, according to Mayor Marino Keulen (Open VLD). He told Het Laatste Nieuws that a record 88mm of rain fell in one hour. In the nearby Veldwezelt, water also flooded the living room of a house.
In Bilzen, another Limburg municipality, more streets flooded due to the persistent rain and in Diepenbeek and Greater Hasselt, the fire brigade was called out because of lightning strikes.
The Limburg region on the Dutch side was even worse affected. The area around Venlo saw more than 70 millimetres of rainfall locally, almost twice as much as normally falls in May. In some places, the water flooding streets was almost knee-high.
Translation: "Firefighters are busy dealing with flooding in many places. In many places, streets are flooded and basements are flooded. The hill country has been particularly hard hit. Call 112 only if there is danger."
A storm in the province of Antwerp saw one house declared uninhabitable in the village of Meerle (near the Dutch border) after lightning sparked a fire.
As the rain front is still moving slowly northwards, meaning Friday will be largely wet across the country until around noon. On Saturday, rain will arrive from France after a dry morning, with a possible chance of local thunderstorms and temperatures of 17°C.
