Violent thunderstorms hit Belgium on Saturday evening, July 24, causing damage in the province of Namur (south), ten days after floods that killed 36 people in the country, authorities said.
No casualties were to be deplored, a spokesperson for the national crisis center told AFP around 11 p.m. (9 p.m. GMT), specifying that the thunderstorms were over and the situation "
stabilized
".
Read also: Floods in Germany and Belgium: images of devastated towns and countryside
These heavy rains affected 11 municipalities in the Meuse valley in the early evening, where they caused flooding.
Impressive images of streets transformed into torrent circulated on social networks, recalling scenes experienced ten days previously in the province of Liège.
Floods, collapses ...
The spokesperson for the national crisis center, Antoine Iseux, however, specified that the situation was "out of
proportion
" with the floods of July 14 and 15, because the rains had not this time caused a flood. Despite everything, they caused material damage, flooding cellars, damaging roads, homes and cars. In Namur, capital of Wallonia, a wall collapsed on a roadway near the casino, below the citadel, and several houses were evacuated. About thirty km to the south, in the city of Dinant, the rains also caused flooding, especially in the station area. They took cars away, some of which blocked a level crossing.
Read also: Bad weather in Europe: the call for help from Belgium has been heard
Belgium was hit on July 14 and 15 by unprecedented flooding, following heavy floods caused by several days of torrential rains.
They mainly affected the region of Liège, in eastern Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, and left 36 dead, as well as seven people still missing, according to a latest report published on Saturday by the crisis center.