At the head two hundred years ago, parts of Drenthe, Friesland and Overijssel flooded. It says nothing to many people and is therefore called the forgotten flood disaster of 1825. But today, exactly two hundred years later at 6.25 pm, there is a standstill.
Fifty churches in the disaster area are the clocks for five minutes to commemorate the victims. In Meppel, the Samenstroom, the Kruiskerk and the Meppeler Tower participate. Just like the Bartolomeüskerk in Ruinerwold, the Sint-Barbarakerk in Nijeveen and the church of Kolderveen.
In Overijssel, about three hundred people fall dead that night. In Drenthe that number is not too bad, for example, there are no fatalities in the flooded Meppel, but 5 people are killed by the high water in nearby Kolderveveen. More victims fall in the years after the disaster. Because in the summer of 1825 there is still water in many places. “Then they spoke of the swamp diseases,” says Wim de Vries of Stichting Oud Meppel. “Nowadays we know that it was the malaria mosquito.”
When he heard that in Overijssel the clocks are sounding in Overijssel, he decided to also take action and participate. “It is important that we commemorate the more than three hundred victims.”
In Meppel you can still see a brick stone in the outside wall of the church how high the water has come, but for the rest you can no longer see anything of the flood disaster in the city. Those who want to know more can go to the Drents Archief. Cards and eyewitness reports have been preserved there. In a letter, for example, the mayor of Meppel describes what is going on in his city.