The large construction crane that fell over on the Lithoijense Dijk in Lithoijen on Thursday evening came close to hitting Piet van Lent’s house. He was sitting inside unsuspectingly watching TV. “If that crane had fallen half a meter further, it would have hit my house.”
Still a little dazed, Piet looks at the front of his white dike house. There is a huge construction crane on its side. “Look, it’s only half a meter away from the facade,” Piet points out. “I can’t even leave my house through the front door.”
Piet was watching TV when he suddenly heard a crash. “A huge blow and immediately afterwards I felt vibrations. I had already closed the shutters, so I didn’t know what had happened. When I came outside, I saw the construction crane. Then you look strange. But you really don’t take it in to move it,” he adds with a laugh.
The construction crane was in front of his house because work is being done on dike reinforcement on the Lithoijense Dijk. The crane probably fell over after the work, during loading for transport. Piet was quite shocked by it. “We were prepared for inconvenience. But of course you don’t expect this. Who wouldn’t be shocked by this?”
Piet has lived in his dike house for 63 years. He just hopes that his house was not damaged by the blow. “I have no idea yet whether there is any damage. That will become clear later. There is a lot of mud on my facade due to the fall of the crane. But that is not the worst thing.” In any case, he is very happy that the crane just missed his house. “That’s really a blessing in disguise.”
