Residents of the Indische Buurt in Beverwijk go to court after years of flooding

Everywhere in the neighborhood you see residents’ belongings on the street because their cellars are flooded. “The water is quite deep,” says one of the residents. “If I walk too fast, it will hit my boots.”

Aziza Ouariaghli and her neighbors have been living on Sumatrastraat for ten years and suffer from flooding after heavy rain showers. “They then come and suck up the water, but that is of course not the solution,” says Ouariaghli.

According to the residents, Pre Wonen will renovate the apartments per street and insulation should be the answer to this difficult problem, but the residents have doubts about this. “It’s unnecessary spending of money,” says Aziza.

Signatures

After all, the basements of homes that have already been renovated are also flooded, they say. Chairman Frans Johansen of the residents’ committee has started a petition. “We collected 67 signatures in total,” he says. In fact, they have gone to court. There will be a hearing on December 7.

Saskia van Daalen, spokesperson for Pre wonen says: “It is not our fault, the cellars are at the same level as the groundwater level. So it is difficult for us to solve it. Only the Water Board could solve this. Nevertheless, we continue to We investigate where and when the problem occurs to see if we can somehow manage it.”

Residents can report their flooding to Pre Wonen, so that the cellars can be pumped out. Although that is a temporary solution.

It is not the first time that problems have been reported about this. Tenants previously demanded action in 2020, but according to them, this was not listened to. The housing association says it does not recognize the distrust.