1/5 Rain causes problems at the Heeze cemetery, holes and sunken graves
The extreme rain of recent times has caused problems at various cemeteries in our province. Including in Eindhoven, Helmond and Heeze. The sand around the graves is washed away, causing cracks, holes and even subsidence. A nasty sight and also dangerous for visitors. The cemetery in Heeze has therefore been closed for almost two months.
While the rain is pouring down, Hans Teeven is busy checking the graves at the cemetery in Heeze. The manager shows what all that water has done. “Look, here the sand has been washed away so far that you can even see under the capstone,” he points out. “Due to the heavy rain, the underground of the cemetery is completely saturated. It has become a kind of quicksand that disappears under the graves and leaves large holes.”
As manager, Teeven visits all the graves. He digs into the ground with a shovel and wiggles it back and forth. “I check whether the surface is still stable. If I feel resistance, then it is good. But if I can move up and down with the shovel, then sand has sunk there.”
“So many graves were unstable that it was no longer responsible to let people walk here.”
Teeven did not realize at first how bad the cemetery was. “We thought it was just a few graves. We then put posts around them. Until we discovered that it was much worse. There were so many holes in the ground and so many graves were unstable that it was no longer responsible to stay here.” to let people walk around. That’s why the gate has been closed for almost two months now.”
The closure was a tough decision for many relatives. Teeven: “There are people who come here every day. Suddenly that was no longer possible. And there are people who come from far away, for example from Valkenswaard or from Belgium. These people unexpectedly stood in front of a closed gate. So they will also be disappointed. have been.”
“When you walk around the graves you can sink or fall through the many holes there are.”
However, safety is the first priority for the manager. “If you walk around the graves you can really sink in. Or you can fall through the many holes that there are. If no one sees you, you can lie here for a very long time. And of course we want to prevent that. But when we work here We leave the gate open so that people can visit the graves under supervision.”
Together with a group of volunteers, Teeven checks all graves and replenishes sand where necessary. “That is necessary for almost every grave. On average we need three or four wheelbarrows of sand per grave. But for some we need five or six. So it is a huge job.”
Just then a truck stops at the cemetery. “That is already the ninth truck that has come to dump sand,” Teeven sighs.
“We would like the dead to be neatly laid out here again.”
Still, he is hopeful that the cemetery can reopen in a few days. Although he knows that his work is not over yet. “When the sun starts shining, the mud will settle. And then we will have to fill everything with sand again.”
But he remains in good spirits. “We want the dead to be neatly laid out here again. That’s why we do it.”