Six widows and fifteen children were left behind after the Texel flood disaster

Mayor Michiel Uitdehaag and acting dike warden Rob Veenman laid a wreath in memory of the deceased Texel residents Redmer IJska (56), Willem Dijker (57), Jan Koopman (48), Wieger Bernardus (34), Siebren Walsweer (23) and Dirk Fairing (36). They drowned when they offered help to prevent the impending dike breach at the Zeeburg farm. When the dike threatened to break, the aid workers fled to the Eierlandse dike. On the way there, the six Texel residents died due to the rapidly rising water.

“We can imagine what it must have been like in 1953,” said mayor Uitdehaag. The weather conditions were bad that night from Saturday to Sunday. “More wind than today, but with fewer means of communication than we have now.” Texel resident Paul Kikkert helped that night and saved the life of a man, he can happy retelling.

“Because six men died, that also meant that there were six widows. And no less than fifteen children lost their father,” said the mayor. It took some time before the drowned men were found. “It must have been terrible for the bereaved to know nothing about the fate of their loved ones for a while.” Due to the inadequate means of communication, people remained in uncertainty for a long time.

Fundraisers

Through various fundraising campaigns, money was collected for those affected, so that the destroyed homes and farms could be rebuilt. “It was even considered to rebuild the town hall, which had been damaged in the Russian war, at a later date.” Almost 23,000 guilders were soon raised. A decent amount for that period.

After the disaster on February 13, Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard visited the island. “The queen arrived in the port of Oudeschild with the ferry Dokter Wagemaker at the time. The prince himself came with his sports plane.” They went to look at the dike near Oosterend and the place where the dike had broken. The royal couple also spoke to widows and children of the deceased victims at the time.

The dike itself was repaired fairly quickly. “The polder was closed again a good three weeks later.” The monument on the dike was finally placed in 1959. “The dikes are at the right height, but vigilance remains necessary. The February disaster is part of our history. And for many of us it will continue to be part of our lives. It is good to keep telling the stories and also to share with others. parts.”

Acting dike warden Rob Veenman indicated that the Texel disaster is almost never mentioned in national news coverage. “It irritates me regularly,” he says. “It is not the first time that Texel has been forgotten.”

The flood disaster almost repeated itself on January 4, 1976. “Then there was panic again, when the water came over the dike,” says Veenman. “At that time it also turned out that the dyke reinforcement on Texel had not been included in the Delta Plan. The delta works were carried out throughout the Netherlands, except on Texel. They had been forgotten.” As a precaution, families were evacuated from the polder and sheltered in Texel churches.

‘No bullshit, up that dike’

Texel residents then took action. Hundreds of islanders went to the Binnenhof in buses to protest. With the slogan ‘No bullshit up that dike’, the islanders came to The Hague with sheep to get a story. A petition with 4,000 signatures was handed over to the ministers.

“That resulted in the dike on Texel finally reaching delta height again in 1981,” says Veenman. It turned out not to be the last dyke reinforcement. Because in 2016 the Hoogheemraadschap implemented a new dyke improvement. “We raised the dike again and the work was completed in 2021.”