Storm Henk leaves at least two dead, serious flooding and power outages in Europe

The first storm of the year in Europe leaves two people dead this Wednesday and heavy rains and floods in several parts of Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, among others, with dozens of evacuees, material damage and power outages in thousands of homes.

Storm Henk, which is hitting western Europe, has caused extensive material damage and problems in several parts of the Netherlands, where a 75-year-old man died, who fell from his bicycle apparently due to strong gusts of wind in a town near the Dutch city of Eindhoven, according to the Police.

A storm that has also been sweeping through Belgium since last Tuesday night and that caused the death of a 59-year-old woman in East Flanders, upon receiving the impact of a fence blown by the wind.

Precisely in Flanders, the floods affected homes and forced the authorities to activate the alert plan. Although no major evacuations are planned for now, 18 people were evacuated from a campsite to a sports center in the Walloon province of Namur, to the south, according to Belgian media.

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Several rivers or their tributaries could overflow in the next few hours in Wallonia.

In the Netherlands, for its part, authorities have reported fallen trees, branches interrupting traffic on roads, collapsed facades and flooded gardens and garages, especially in the provinces on the North Sea coast.

In the port cities of IJmuiden and Vlissingen, an average wind force of 9 degrees (strong gale) was measured for more than an hour. about 75 kilometers per hour. Additionally, a fire at a chicken farm killed about 50,000 chickens, and it took firefighters several hours to put out the flames.

The fire started after midnight, but the strong winds of the storm made extinguishing tasks difficult; However, a second nearby farm was able to be saved.

At the same time, dozens of homes have had to be evacuated in several French towns near the port of Calais, next to the Belgian border, due to flooding caused by the rising waters of several rivers, and in particular the Aa, which is not expected to subside at least until the weekend.

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This morning, evacuations continued in Arques, where The overflowing Aa had covered the center with around a meter of water, according to firefighters cited by the newspaper La Voix du Nord.

There are also seven other rivers of Pas de Calais and the neighboring department of the North under orange surveillance, the Liane, the Hem, the Lys above Laquette, the Lawe-Clarence, the Lys on the plain, the Helpe and the Canche.

The floods in that area are reaching the dimension of those that affected that same region in November, and most of the damage has not yet been able to be repaired since then due to the continuous presence of water.

Since Saturday, 450 Pas de Calais firefighters have been mobilized, to which another 120 from other departments are expected to be added this Wednesday, following the instructions of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who on his X account (former Twitter ) said he had given them at the request of the president, Emmanuel Macron.

The meteorological services predict an increase in rainfall throughout the department for this Wednesday.

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Last night between 7 and 15 liters per square meter fell there, according to Méteo France, who warned that about 20-40 liters are expected for this Wednesday, although locally they could reach 50.

In the United Kingdom, more than 300 flood alerts in England and Wales, power cuts in thousands of homes and transport interruptions are the effects of
Storm Henk.

With gales of up to 150 kilometers on the Isle of Wight (southern England), this storm has already caused incidents without victims and alterations in the railway service, some of whose lines remain closed or with delays.

Rail operator Greater Anglia said it was experiencing “serious disruption”, with “do not travel” warnings on routes to Norwich, Colchester, Peterborough and Cambridge, while South Western Railway warned that disruptions due to
storm will probably last all day.

Some of England's main roads were closed due to flooding, including the A52. between the city of Nottingham and the town of Edwalton, according to authorities.

The Energy Network Association, which collects data from all suppliers, estimated that at least 10,000 customers remain without power, after about 125,000 have restored service.

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Northern Germany also continues to struggle with high levels of its rivers and streams, which already caused flooding at the end of last year due to constant rains and which have forced some districts to ask for help from the federal Army.

The most affected regions remain Lower Saxony, southern Saxony-Anhalt and northern Thuringia, as well as parts of North Rhine-Westphalia (west), and according to weather forecasts, up to 80 liters of rain could fall by Thursday. per square meter.

The district of Mansfeld-Südharz, especially affected by the floods and where the disaster declaration has been in force since last Saturday, asked the Bundeswehr (German Army) for help and suspended classes in some schools, according to the radio and television specialized in the MDR region. .

Fire departments and residents are building a sandbag wall along the Helme River as flood protection, but they are running out of material.

Also in Lower Saxony, after a night of heavy rain and strong winds, the flood situation in some areas of the region and in Bremen is critical on Wednesday.

EFE