Lightning destroys monument in home as storms batter Brabant

Residents across Brabant awoke Monday morning to severe storms accompanied by whirlwinds, lightning and hail which combined to cause damage across the region. Nobody was injured from Monday’s troublesome weather.

Vrijdom, a bed and breakfast in Den Dungen, Noord Brabant, was destroyed by a fire sparked by lightning. The owner managed to escape the fire, but told reporter Emile Vaessen, “Everything is gone. I have nothing more.”

Built in 1835, the farmhouse has been on the national monument registry since 1979, according to the Government Office for Cultural Heritage. Exterior photos of the building on the bed and breakfast’s website show a farmhouse with a traditional thatched roof.

Less than five kilometers away, a house in Middelrode was also struck by lightening at about 5:30 a.m. Lightning is also believed to be behind a fire in Etten-Leur, while storm damage battered the roof and facade of a building in Oss.

A whirlwind that whipped through the towns of Kaatsheuvel and De Moer around 4 a.m. uprooted trees, several of which landed on cars, the fire department said to Omroep Brabant. Fences and sheds were also damaged from the wind, while flooding also caused issues in Kaatsheuvel.

Another Code Orange alarm has been raised by the national meteorological association, KNMI, for this evening.