On Sunday 25 June
1967 at 4:15 pm the Belgian village Oostmalle was hit by a tornado
which destroyed the church and the centre of the village. The tornado
entered Belgium via northern France causing light damage in the
Belgium villages Dikkebus and Boezinge. It struck four times with
severe strenght: at 4:15 pm in Oostmalle, at 4:27 pm and 4:40 pm in
the Dutch village Chaam, and at 5:17 pm in the Dutch village Tricht.
The devastating
natural phenomenon came through the Renesse park and then crossed the
center of Oostmalle. The tornado threw trees out of the ground,
destroyed the church tower, damaged dozens of houses, threw cars
around. More than half of the 900 houses in the village were damaged,
135 houses were completely destroyed. Miraculously no-one got killed.
There were about 100 injured, of whom 43 were serious.
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| Arial view of the devastation |
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| Arial view of the devastation |
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| Oostmalle, Dorpsplaats after the tornado |
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| Oostmalle, Dorpsplaats after the tornado (arial view) |
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