After the devastating mudflow in Greece three weeks ago, the bed & breakfast of former Wormers Jolanda Roggeveen and Peter Kwast opened again this week. The day before yesterday things threatened to go wrong again because storm Elias passed over the country, but it eventually passed them by.
Full of tension Jolanda sent a message last Tuesday: “No! The alarm on both phones is going off.” The alarm sounded ‘Warning message about severe weather conditions in your area.’ In other words: storms are coming. It turned out to be not too bad, at least for Jolanda and Peter.
On Tuesday night, September 5, things went terribly wrong. In a earlier interview The day after the disaster, Jolanda said that it was going to rain extremely hard that afternoon. The water rose so quickly that that night the gate of the yard fell out of its rebates. A huge mudflow swept over the land, leaving a trail of destruction. “We saw everything floating by. Refrigerators, tables, chairs (…) The next day it became clear that we had lost everything.”
While doing the jobs it becomes clear what ‘everything’ is. That is unimaginable, says Jolanda. The entire swimming pool has become a mud pit, the gates have been ripped out of the ground and all suites have been flooded. But that’s not all: the entire administration is gone, pan sets are rusted, chairs decay and wine cabinets have been washed away or broken. There is still no trace of planters and other items.
“I have never felt so tired or looked so terrible as I do now. We have a constant taste of mud in our mouths. Everything feels a bit dusty and when you pick up something you immediately have some kind of dye on your hand. We can no longer see or smell mud.”
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Now, after three weeks of hard work, Jolanda is relieved to announce that she is open again. “It’s really incredible. We had to spray everything clean with the high-pressure cleaner four times, but it’s slowly getting back to normal.” Jolanda is completely amazed by the garden: “After a week, the garden has completely bounced back. As if nothing had happened. Plants, grass, everything looks like never before. Really beautiful.”
Although it is still an emotional time, the couple is very grateful. “We have not yet been able to accommodate the power itself. You are still too much in a bubble for that. However, we are emotional by all the support from people, both financially and the help here. We were recently at the birthday of someone who turned 60 He said he would donate all his birthday money to us. Then you’ll fill up.”
Even though one suite is still impassable and cannot open again until next season, the other rooms are immediately fully booked. Guests do not mind that the swimming pool may not yet be operational and is still too cold to swim in. “We immediately fed that back, but people fully understand.”
“It was so exciting to open the doors again. Strangely enough, it feels much more exciting for both of us than the first time we opened. As if we have a lot to prove. It was still a bit difficult to get back to it completely.” looking forward to it, but now that the first guests have arrived again, it is back.”