Large hailstones and flooded streets: this is how the storm hit our region, now code green everywhere | Domestic

A few thunderstorms occurred early in the night from Thursday to Friday. The KNMI warned that this could be accompanied by hail and a lot of rain, which could cause flooding. This mainly concerned the center and west of the country.

On Thursday evening, thunderstorms caused disruption in various places. And all this while it was also the first official summer day of the year. In De Bilt the temperature rose to no less than 25.1 degrees at 2 p.m.

But during the afternoon the weather changed. Earlier in the day, the KNMI warned of heavy thunderstorms that could cause nuisance, especially in the center and south of the country, in the afternoon and evening. This is particularly the case in Gelderland, Brabant and Limburg. Especially in the latter province, a lot of rain fell in several places.

A lot of flooding had already occurred in Ede and Bennekom around 5:15 p.m. A downpour left several streets flooded. Rainwater drained with difficulty, including in Lorentzstraat, causing motorists to drive through large puddles of water.

Around 5:30 p.m. the first hailstones were also falling from the sky in Ede. Video footage shows how hailstones, the size of a large marble, fall violently from the sky.

The downpours also caused flooding in Voorthuizen (Barneveld). For example, the fire brigade on the Noordersingel had to take action to pump out a cellar and several manhole covers had to be replaced. Dozens of streets were flooded after the sewers became overflowing due to the enormous amount of rainwater.

In Landhorst (municipality of Land van Cuijk) in Brabant, a tree fell on the Quayweg due to the storm. The street was closed. Traffic had to be diverted.

Just north of Venlo, more than 70 millimeters of rain fell locally. That is almost double what normally falls in the entire month of May. The fire brigade called on people in the Venlo area not to call if there was flooding in the basement or home, because firefighters were too busy with other reports. “Only call in dangerous situations that cannot wait,” the Limburg-Noord fire brigade said on messaging service X.

The showers moved ‘excruciatingly’ slowly westwards across the Netherlands, according to Weeronline. Although the rain remains heavy according to the weather site, ‘practices like in Venlo’ are not expected so quickly in the west of the country. However, local flooding is ‘certainly possible’, it sounds.

According to the weather institute, wind gusts can reach speeds of up to 65 kilometers per hour, hailstones can have a diameter of 2 centimeters and locally between 20 and 40 millimeters of rain can fall within an hour. “Traffic and outdoor activities may be inconvenienced and there may also be local flooding,” says Weeronline.

In Berg en Terblijt in South Limburg, a mudslide caused damage to houses. According to the safety region, “a very large amount of water” flowed away from a water buffer due to the storm on Thursday evening, causing Lindenstraat to flood.

A spokesperson for the safety region tells L1 News that work was being carried out in the street and it is now considerably damaged by the water. The water has also caused damage to a number of homes. The extent of the damage is not known. The spokesperson does say that there is no immediate danger to the environment.

According to the spokesman, this is the worst incident in the region as a result of the severe weather.

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Sunday promises not to be completely dry, but according to the meteorologists it does not seem to be a soaking wet Liberation Day. ‘It may rain for some time across the country, but there are also quite a few dry moments where the sun can break through for a while. The temperature changes little compared to Saturday. It will be about 17 degrees.’

The chances of precipitation decrease in the following days. Local showers remain possible, but dry spells will dominate. The temperature is often between 15 and 20 degrees and these are fairly common values ​​for the time of year. ‘There is little wind and when the sun breaks through for a moment it quickly becomes wonderful weather to go out!’

For Ascension Day, on May 9, dry weather with normal temperatures for this time of year is expected. ‘There is a 75 percent chance that less than 1 millimeter of precipitation will fall. The traditional dew treading therefore seems to proceed dryly. The chance that Ascension Day will be warmer than usual this year with temperatures above 18 degrees is currently 15 percent in the north of the country and more than 30 percent in the south. The chance that we will experience temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees is greatest at around 60 percent. In the north the mercury is a little closer to 15 degrees and in the south a little closer to 20 degrees,” according to Weeronline.

The average temperature on Ascension Day in our current climate (1994-2023) is 18.2 degrees. Since 1901, the temperature on this day has risen to above 20 degrees in a quarter of a percent of the years, but in more than a third of the years the mercury has remained below 15 degrees. ‘Values ​​of 15 to 20 degrees are most common at 41 percent and this temperature also seems most likely this year.’

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