Hailstorm hammers Limburg with 5cm stones, damaging cars and flooding streets
A powerful hailstorm swept across Midden- and Noord-Limburg Saturday evening, pelting towns with hailstones up to five centimeters wide, damaging vehicles, flooding streets, and briefly halting a local pop festival. Emergency services were called to multiple locations as the extreme weather caused widespread disruption across the region, L1 Nieuws reports.
Around 6 p.m., hailstones measuring about two centimeters in diameter began falling in the areas around Maasbracht and Echt, according to the Facebook group Stormchasers Limburg. While no significant damage was initially reported in those towns, the storm intensified as it moved eastward and northward. An hour later, larger hailstones struck Belfeld with enough force to dent car roofs. In Venlo, where hailstones up to five centimeters were reported, some car windshields shattered under the impact.
Reports of similar large hailstones came in from Melick, Tegelen, and Reuver. In Herkenbosch, firefighters responded to flooding on Van der Landelaan caused by the torrential rainfall that accompanied the hail. Other parts of the Roerdalen municipality, including Sint Odiliënberg and Melick, experienced street flooding and water entering basements. Vehicles in several locations also sustained damage from the hail.
In Horst, around 9 p.m., another heavy downpour prompted fire crews to pump out water from flooded cellars. The same evening, in Egchel, the severe weather forced the temporary suspension of EGOpop, a local pop festival. The event was paused for approximately 30 minutes before resuming, according to local broadcaster Omroep PenM.
Footage shared by weather platform Buienradar showed hailstones raining down on parked cars in a Venlo street. A car alarm was triggered by the intensity of the hail, according to the weather service.
Meteo Limburg warned that other areas in the province could still face additional rain, hail, and thunderstorms, possibly accompanied by strong gusts of wind. The storm was expected to move eastward during the night. The weather agency also indicated that similar conditions might affect parts of Noord-Brabant, Gelderland, and Overijssel later in the evening.
