Snow and strong winds bring disruption to Brussels

Brussels firefighters were called out about 100 times to incidents linked to Sunday's bad weather in the capital, with morning snow followed by heavy rain and strong winds later in the day.

All Brussels parks, woods and cemeteries were closed to the public from Sunday lunchtime because of the wind. The Rue de l'Evêque was closed because the scaffolding on a building site was at risk of collapse. Firefighters were also called to cordon off the big wheel at the Christmas market.

Stib buses were halted between De Brouckère and Central Station because of flooding. The Stephanie and Georges Henri road tunnels had to be closed, again due to flooding.

Many parts of Brussels and Wallonia woke up on Sunday morning to snow, with up to 10cm in the Ardennes. Later in the day, the city was hit by gusts of wind up to 90kph. The Royal Meteorological Institute warned of hazardous driving conditions and has placed most of Belgium on "orange" alert.

Wind and rain are expected to continue into Monday. Brussels Environment will carry out checks on the parks on Monday morning before deciding whether they should reopen.

The weather also caused disruption at Brussels airport, mainly during the morning snowfall. A Swissair flight bound for Zurich with more than 100 passengers on board was stranded on the tarmac for six hours.

An airport spokeswoman said: "Once the passengers have boarded the plane, it is the responsibility of the pilot and the airline to make a decision, but often they prefer to keep the passengers in the aircraft because the boarding gates are sometimes already occupied, or because the passengers risk getting split up if they leave the plane." A spokesperson for Swiss said: "This situation is not normal and we will take into account the remarks of the passengers."

Photo: Eric Lalmand/Belga