Almost 1,600 calls to the 1722 hotline about storm damage
On Saturday the emergency services received no fewer than 1,575 calls to the 1722 for non-urgent assistance relating to storm damage. The figures come from the Department of the Interior’s Spokeswoman Ophélie Boffa.
The greatest number of calls (308) came from people that live in Antwerp Province. Limburg had the second highest number of calls at 285, followed by East Flanders with 276 calls made to the 1722 hotline. 170 calls were made to the hotline from Flemish Brabant and 128 calls from people in East Flanders.
In Brussels 55 people requested storm-related non-urgent assistance from the emergency services.
The remaining calls came from the 5 Walloon provinces.
The 1722 hotline was open between 11 :15am on Friday and 10pm on Saturday. Most of the calls were about signs that had become dislodged, fallen masonry and fallen trees.
The Royal Metrological Institute (KMI) issued a Yellow Weather warning on Thursday due to predicted gusts of high wind. The Yellow Weather warning remained in force until Saturday evening. The 1722 number is for non-urgent (situations in which lives are not at risk) interventions by the fire service).