Residents asked to stay indoors as Storm Austen rages through Belgium today

A storm with winds up to 90kph – and potentially to 100kph on the coast – will move through Flanders today. East and West Flanders has a code orange storm alert, while the rest of the country is on code yellow alert.

“Storm Austen” also comes with dark clouds and rain, beginning this morning and continuing into tonight. After 22.00, winds and rain will ease up, with the code alerts remaining in place until after midnight. Clearing is expected overnight.

Residents of East and West Flanders are warned to stay indoors as much as possible and close doors and windows. All parks, provincial domains and nature reserves are closed, and all outdoor public activities have been cancelled. 

On the coast, visitors centres including Duinpanne in De Panne and Atlantikwall Raversyde in Ostend are closed, and only the indoor section of Zwin Nature Park in Knokke is open.

Across the country residents and businesses are asked to secure outdoor furniture and other objects, or bring them inside. “We see more storms happening during this time of the year,” said VRT meteorologist Jacotte Brokken. Storm Austen is the first one this autumn, and it is a fiery one.”

A storm is a low-pressure system, she explains, and the pressure within that system has dropped significantly in a short period of time. “This has everything to do with the position of the jet stream intersecting with the storm’s position. This interaction gives the storm an extra boost. We call this a ‘bomb cyclone’, or ‘weather bomb’.”

That is indeed as bad as it sounds; Storm Austen is expected to pack quite a punch, particularly in terms of wind. The storm is affecting neighbouring countries as well, with some 161,000 households in France currently without electricity, and ferries cancelled between France and the UK.