Many towns and villages across Wallonia have been flooded in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Royal Meteorological Institute (IRM) has placed the province of Luxembourg on yellow alert for rain in its assessment on Wednesday morning. This warning is valid until tomorrow/Thursday at 09:00. The provinces of Namur and Liège remain on yellow warning. The rest of the territory is no longer under alert.
Tournai, Ath, Lessines, Leuze, Frasnes, Celles, and Mouscron municipalities have been affected by flooding caused by heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours.
On Wednesday morning, emergency services reported over 400 interventions in the Picardy Wallonia had been dispatched. Thankfully, no incidents were attributed to the adverse weather conditions.
The centre of Annevoie was badly flooded after the Rouillon River breached its banks, Namur firefighters said on Wednesday morning.
"A dike in the Annevoie garden gave way due to heavy rains, which led to the obstruction of the aqueduct passing under the N92 and located a few hundred meters lower. This obstruction led to an impressive overflow of the Rouillon, which flooded the entire centre of Annevoie and caused significant damage to the houses located there," reported the spokesperson for the Dinaphi zone, Patrice Liétart. Four people had to be relocated by municipal services to a hotel in the region.
These operations continued until around 04:00. "The N92 may still be closed to traffic until the end of the day so that we can clear and clean the road," said the spokesperson.
Luxembourg province badly affected
Emergency services had a busy night on Tuesday amid severe rains across the Luxembourg province. The towns most affected by flooding were Neufchâteau, Mellier, Virton, Arlon and Messancy. Emergency crews were also called out to deal with multiple incidents of fallen trees and debris.
"We haven’t yet quantified [the number of calls] but it’s substantial," reported the dispatcher, noting a slight lull only between 03:00 and 04:00 in the morning. Early in the morning, calls for help were ongoing.
The hydrometry service of the Walloon Region has put 17 streams on flood alert and 21 on pre-alert. In the southernmost part of the country, Sûre, Haute, Moyenne and Basse Semois, Chiers, Vierre and their tributaries were on flood alert. Viroin, Eau Noire and Our rivers, which had previously been on pre-alert, were upgraded to alert during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Showers are expected until Thursday morning. Due to the nature of precipitation in the form of showers, large disparities in precipitation accumulations from one region to another may be recorded, predicts the IRM.
Especially south of the Sambre and Meuse furrow, showers will be widespread and sometimes intense, with cumulative precipitation fluctuating between 15 and 40l/m2 until Thursday morning.
Travel slowly resumes
Buizingen station, made inaccessible since Tuesday afternoon by flooding near the tracks, is once again served, Infrabel said Wednesday morning.
One of the station's underground accesses was under water on Tuesday. The trains had to travel with caution and could not stop in the town of Flemish Brabant, causing disruptions on the line linking Halle and Brussels-Midi.
There are no trains running between Gendron-Celles and Dinant since 05:20 on Wednesday morning due to a mudslide in Anseremme, according to rail infrastructure manager, Infrabel.
The issue was alerted by a freight train heading towards Namur at around 05:30. Frédéric Sacré, an Infrabel spokesperson, stated: "While the train did not derail, the driver decided it best to halt. Inspections are ongoing."
Only one of the two tracks has been affected, so limited services are expected to resume before 08:00. Typically, two trains travel in each direction on this line per hour.
Vincent Bayer, a spokesperson for the SNCB, informed that the L trains between Namur, Dinant and Libramont are currently operating only between Namur and Dinant. He added that replacement bus services have been arranged between Gendron-Celles and Dinant, as well as between Gendron-Celles and Libramont.
Following the bad weather alert from the IRM, the Ministry of Home Affairs activated the 1722 number for non-emergency firefighter calls.
