Flooding causes enormous destruction, but it cannot be called a disaster

Thousands of houses are destroyed, large numbers of cows and other domestic animals die and many thousands of people seek safety when the dikes around the Maas break in 1926. The land of Cuijk is flooded, just like large areas in Gelderland and Utrecht. But Prime Minister Hendrikus Colijn should not call it a disaster.

At the end of 1925 it had been raining heavily in Brabant and the surrounding area for weeks and it was noticeable. Many meadows throughout the province have been flooded and residents of villages along the Meuse see the water level in the river rising rapidly. Access roads to various places are flooded and that already makes them difficult to reach. High temperatures are melting snow in our surrounding countries, which provides additional water supplies.

The dike guards are working hard to strengthen weak points along the watercourse. Sandbags are brought in in large quantities. A few years earlier, in 1920, things had already gone wrong in the Cuijk area and they were committed to preventing the river from overflowing its banks again.

After the 1920 flood, the mayor of Cuijk doubted whether enough had been done to prevent a new disaster. He pent concerns are raised in a brochure. “One should not think that the dangers of breaches have now passed, not least of all; as long as considerable effort is not made to improve the river Maas, there remains a threat of great danger. Although the dikes have been considerably strengthened at the expense of many sacrifices in Cuijk and the municipalities above, but danger can still occur every winter.”

His words are prophetic, because on January 2, 1926 things went wrong again. The dike in Cuijk between the Lacto dairy factory and the Sint Maarten dairy products factory breaks through. Exactly at the spot where the river overflowed its banks six years earlier. A reporter from the Gelderlander calls the mayor of Cuijk: he says everything is okay. But then the journalist suddenly hears shouts: “Flight, flight, the dike has broken.” Then falling chairs and noise can be heard and the telephone connection is lost.

A hole in the dike is not only developing in Cuijk, things are also going wrong in other places. Boxmeer and Cuijk and the surrounding area with villages such as Haps, Oeffelt and Sint Agatha are rapidly flooding. People flee with their livestock to churches that are often higher than other places in the area.

The devastation is enormous. Many houses collapse, thousands of animals drown, railway tracks are washed away and a railway bridge is destroyed. The damage runs into many millions of guilders. Miraculously, no one dies.

Initially, because deaths will still occur, later that month. The water slowly drops and then it starts to freeze severely. The ice layer is too thin to walk on and too thick to row through. Villages are inaccessible and food is running out. People die from the cold and a lack of food.

Prime Minister Colijn does not view the floods as a national disaster. Well, those people live in an area that sometimes floods. That’s just part of the risk of the job. In fact, there are even benefits to the floods. This creates a layer of fertile sludge on the land, the Prime Minister said, much to the anger of those affected. The victims can ask for money from the government.

Most likely the decision was made due to ‘lack of money’. Colijn, who is also Minister of Finance, has been implementing strict cuts for years. Spending extra money now is very bad for him and his government.

The victims have to make do with private donations. And fortunately they will happen. Queen Wilhelmina comes with 10,000 guilders and the Pope donates 20 grand. The Dutch population is particularly generous and raises no less than four million guilders (more than 1.8 million euros).

In the following years, much was done to better canalize the Meuse and to raise the dikes around the river. The project was not completed until 1942.