While squash players were busy hitting a ball on Friday afternoon, a true disaster occurred at the Solidygym gym in Den Bosch. Due to the heavy gusts of wind, the roof of the gym literally flew into the air. Then the rainwater flowed in like a waterfall.
“It was incredibly intense”, owner Nicole Pennings (43) looks back on the storm that largely destroyed her gym.
Despite the warnings for the extremely bad weather, she and co-owner Frances van der Donk (42) decided to open as usual. “We thought it wasn’t going that fast.”
“Then a customer walked in who did not close the door properly behind him, after which a window collapsed due to the strong wind,” says Nicole. “We were just cleaning up the glass when I heard a huge bang. The whole roof was ripped off. It was just bizarre.”
The roof covering flew into the air and eventually ended up further down, on top of a car.
In no time, the water was pouring into one of the squash halls. “It was a complete waterfall, everything was flooded,” said an emotional Nicole. “I ran there, and immediately heard shouting: “Oh no, it’s going wrong in the gym too!”
The panic was enormous, but everyone immediately came to the rescue. “Two elderly men who were playing squash mopped the floor for hours to get things dry again,” says Nicole.
“Another drove straight to the Praxis to get a new sail so we could protect it a bit from the rain,” she continues. “Others immediately cleaned out the gym so that the equipment wouldn’t get water damage. And there was also someone who called her father for advice, because he is a roofer. I can shed a tear, all those lovely people who were there for us .”
Tomorrow morning it will become clear how extensive the damage is. Nicole and Frances hope that the gym can open again next Monday, but whether that will work remains to be seen.