Today at 11:39 AM • Updated today at 2:20 PM
While you are relaxing and watching the World Cup, your life is suddenly turned upside down by a lightning strike. It happened to Frank Heesters and his wife from Waalwijk. Lightning struck them on the night from Saturday to Sunday. No one was injured, but their house is uninhabitable for the time being.
The damage to their home on Sint Anthoniusstraat is enormous. “Even two streets away, the residents woke up from the impact,” says Frank. “There was a huge bang and flames came out of the meter cupboard. I extinguished it and saw that a fuse was out. I replaced it, but I realized that the earth leakage circuit breaker was still on, which is not normal, I thought.”
This observation was followed by even more confusion. “I suddenly saw red through some seams in the meter cupboard. I thought this was a fire. Then I heard rain coming down in the house. Then the panic was complete because that sound can only be heard if there is a hole in the roof. So I went upstairs, alerted my wife and indeed I could look outside through the roof.”
Then it all happened quickly. The neighbors were warned as well as the fire brigade. “You hope that the neighbor’s house will be spared,” says Frank. That didn’t quite work out. “The fire also spread to the neighbors on my left via a shared beam. There is also significant damage there. The chimney is now crooked there due to the unstable supporting structure. And they also have a lot of water damage.”
For the time being, Frank can no longer enter his home where he has lived for more than 40 years. “There is a risk of collapse, the fire brigade told me. The supporting beams are damaged and black. You can also see that the front facade has come forward.” They found space in a hotel for this first day. “I’m not really worried about it, I am confident that we will be able to find shelter somewhere in the near future.”
