A violent tornado destroyed several roofs of homes on Thursday evening in Beauvechain, said the governor of the province of Walloon Brabant. There were no injuries, but several families had to be relocated.
Very violent winds blew across the Beauvechain entity on Thursday evening around 6 p.m. At Rue de Wavre, a tornado destroyed roofs and tore down electrical poles. The damage is very significant.
According to the Facebook account of the Ardennes Brabant police zone, “roofs were torn off” and the “damage is significant”.
“We didn’t have time to react,” said one victim. “We saw all the objects spinning, flying… The roof, the solar panels, our trailer were overturned, the trees in the back uprooted.” According to this resident, the tornado lasted approximately “20 seconds.”
Not far from him, Eric, also a victim, testifies: “We were busy having dinner and we had two gusts of wind. During the first gust, there was incredible rain. And during the second gust, we saw everything in the sky: slats, pieces of wood… And then it was over. A very, very violent wind.”
It’s an extraordinary tornado that we didn’t see coming
“This happened over a distance of between 50 and 100 meters. The emergency services are on site and we have opened a crisis center at the municipal administration,” explained Mayor Carole Ghiot in the evening. “It’s an extraordinary tornado that we didn’t see coming,” she continues.
Rue de Wavre was closed in its portion located between avenue des Combattants and the intersection of rue de Louvain. Around twenty houses were affected by this tornado.“Six families must be rehoused, but most of the affected residents prefer to initially be hosted by relatives”further clarified the mayor. No injuries were reported, “but the damage is very very significant”underlines the councilor.
In Flanders too, the tornado caused damage. The municipalities of Zoutleeuw and Geetbets were affected. There were no injuries, but the material damage was significant. The roofs of several houses were torn off.
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