Storm weather across Flanders 03/12/2007 00:00

A severe storm crossed the country in the course of Sunday. Torrential rain was accompanied by wind speeds up to 70 mph.

3 December 2007

A storm depression that was originally located over Britian moved  towards Denmark in the course of the day.

As a result Belgium was affected by severe weather conditions and a violent storm.

VRT weather forecaster, Sabine Hagedoren, predicted gusts of up to 60 mph in the interior of the country.

She told people to stay indoors and only to venture out, if this was absolutely necessary.

Sabine insisted that people going out against her advice should steer clear of wooded areas because there was a real danger trees could be uprooted.

She told motorists not to park under a tree because limbs would be falling off.

Not as bad as predicted

On the coast wind speeds of 70 mphs were forecast, but fortunately the wind only reached 8 on the Beaufort scale.

Traffic across the country experienced problems as a result of the storm.

In Ostend the roof of a wood store caved in under the high winds.

Still in West Flanders, in Bruges a warehouse that was under construction blew away.

At sea pilot services were suspended and ships were guided into port by helicopters.

Fire services in the capital received at least 60 calls about roofing tiles that had been blown away and trees that came down on cars.

The storm was expected to move out of the Low Countries in the course of Sunday evening, but this does not mean that it will stop raining.


[Copyright Flanders news 2007]

Subject: Belgian news