Additional measures have been taken ahead of the storms and heavy rainfall predicted to pass over Belgium on Tuesday afternoon.
The previous code yellow warning issued by the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium for storms on Tuesday afternoon has been scaled up because over 40 mm of precipitation is predicted to fall locally in six hours, weather reporter David Dehenauw announced on Twitter.
Earlier in the day, Dehenauw had warned that an intense thunderstorm would hit Belgium via De Panne-Koksijde "with fierce gusts, hailstones of 1-2 cm and lots of precipitation, moving north-north-east." He called on people along the coast and in West Flanders to be especially cautious when venturing outdoors.
Code orange is now being issued for areas on the coast and in West Flanders, East Flanders, Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, Brussels, Walloon Brabant and Hainaut. The intense thunderstorms may be accompanied by hail, fierce gusts and very heavy rain.
What is the emergency number?
The FPS Home Affairs has pre-emptively activated the emergency number 1722 for non-life-threatening assistance. People needing assistance from the fire brigade for storm or water damage can call this number so that the actual emergency number (112) can still be reached by people in life-threatening situations.
"If you call 1722, it is still the operators in the 112 emergency centres who will handle the calls on separate phone lines. This allows them to answer the most urgent calls to 112 first, such as from people having a heart attack or whose house is on fire," a statement read.
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The easiest way to access the assistance services is through the e-desk, but people can also get in contact by phone in situations that are non-life-threatening. Once a request comes in, the fire service analyses the situation and gives priority to those who may be in mortal danger.
"During a storm or during flooding, the fire brigade has to deal with many requests at the same time. You have to wait a little longer because the fire brigade has to assist people who are in mortal danger first."
