“You don’t believe what you see, it’s like the world is coming to an end, it seems so unreal. I got scared, so violently when it raged.” Former contractor Harm Lanjouw from Eext remembers the exact date: November 13, 1972. On that day, 50 years ago, a heavy storm rages over the Netherlands.
Nine people are fatally affected, two of them in Drenthe. Roofs also fly through the air and about seven million trees are destroyed. Hundreds of people are left homeless and traffic is completely disrupted by the fallen trees. “Roof tiles coming off the roof, windows breaking, the power out, everything dark and you can hear everything breaking.” Jacob Kuiper, former KNMI employee, also remembers it well. It is one of the heaviest storms that has ever hit the Netherlands and Drenthe is especially badly hit.
Lanjouw will be on his way to Gasteren on that Monday morning, 13 November. From his car he sees fallen trees on the road and he experiences anxious moments. “And then I was actually a bit scared. I thought: oh dear, I have to go back and then I hope that nothing has blown over on the way, because otherwise I will be stuck between Gasteren and Eext. Then I drove back through Others and flew out the entire frontage at a farm. I really got a bit stuffy.”
The storm damaged many houses and farms in the countryside. According to Jacob Kuiper, Drenthe is the province that was hardest hit. “If you translate the damage into current figures, you would arrive at 430 million euros in damage for the whole of the Netherlands. The heaviest storm we have had so far was in 2018, which is just above it. In terms of damage, this is the second worst storm we’ve seen in the last 50 to 60 years.”