Underwater spa, scouts evacuated from their camps

Belgium is witnessing a bout of torrential rain that has caused a large number of rivers to shed their beds in Wallonia in the south, causing floods on Wednesday in particular in the spa town of Spa and multiple evacuations.

Flooded homes, basements and roads: The situation may worsen in the coming hours, and the weather forecast indicates rain until at least Thursday evening.

According to the media, hundreds of Scouts have been evacuated and moved since Tuesday night to Wednesday, especially along the Wallonia rivers.

Tributaries of the Meuse such as the Lycee (south), Orth and Veseder (southeast) experienced particularly high flows. In Liege (east), several hubs bordering the River Meuse have been closed to traffic, according to police.

“We are clearing out scout camps one by one,” Corinne Mullins told RTL-TVI, mayor of the (south) tourist town of Rochefort, where several rivers meet.

The spa town, located east in the Liege region, warned on its website that its services could not be reached on Wednesday, via email or phone, due to a power outage in the super center.

Video images taken on the RTBF website showed downtown streets turning into muddy torrents. Many public services had to close their doors.

“The Province (Liege) has launched the emergency plan (…). The municipal services of the spa added that all active forces of the municipality, the police and the emergency district are currently on the ground and doing their best.

Belgium is used to floods. Those that occurred in June 2016 were recognized by the Walloon region as “disasters” which led to the right to exceptional compensation.

But this year, the country is experiencing a particularly rainy start of summer, and the bad weather has already had serious consequences.

A week ago, a sixty-year-old man drowned after he was swept away by flood waters near his home in Itri (center). His body was extracted from a tube and found in the Brussels-Charleroi Canal.