Roofs flying through the air, millions of broken trees and a fatality in Havelte. Almost fifty years ago, on November 13, 1972, a devastating storm swept over the Netherlands, hitting Drenthe in particular. In the documentary De Storm, TV Drenthe looks back on this radical event with residents of Eext and Emmen.
The November storm of 1972 is still fresh in their memories for many elderly Drenthe. A total of nine people are fatally affected, one of whom is in Drenthe. Hundreds of people are left homeless and traffic is completely disrupted by the fallen trees.
Former contractor Harm Lanjouw from Eext also remembers it like it was yesterday. On that Monday morning, 13 November, he was on his way from Eext to Gasteren. From his car he saw fallen trees on the road and he experienced anxious moments. “When I drove back through Others at a farm, the entire frontage flew out.”
Jacob Kuiper was still a schoolboy when the storm raged over the North. He became so fascinated by these experiences that he eventually started working at the KNMI. “If you translate the damage into current figures, you would arrive at 430 million euros in damage for the whole of the Netherlands. In terms of damage, this is the second heaviest storm we have experienced in the past 50 to 60 years.”
The forests in Drenthe in particular received a huge blow. In total, 930,000 cubic meters of wood was felled in our country, almost half of which was located in Drenthe. In the weeks after the storm, Staatsbosbeheer decided not to clean up part of the fallen trees in four places in Drenthe. A plot of forest between Exloo and Borger is one of those lasting memories.