Touching testimony during flood commemoration: “I still held Rosa, but then an even bigger tidal wave that swept her along” | Inland

Last night in Sint-Amands aan de schelde, the STROOM festival started with a concert to honor the 41 victims of last year’s floods. It was an emotional evening for the relatives present. The testimony of Benjamin Van Bunderen Robberechts (15) who saw before his eyes how Rosa (15) was dragged to death by a tidal wave, leaves no one unmoved.


CFU

Jun 24 2022


Latest update:
16:09

Composer Jef Neve and writer David Van Reybrouck honored the victims and their relatives with a classical concert ‘Rain Requiem’. It reminded the relatives of that fateful July 14 when all hell broke loose. Benjamin Van Bunderen Robberechts was at camp near the Ourthe at the time.

“The house where we stayed was next to a stream,” he tells VTM NIEUWS. “We were stepping next to that stream to get to a place higher up.” But then things went wrong. “Suddenly there was a tidal wave,” said Benjamin. Rosa, a 15-year-old girl from Ixelles, was swept away by a tributary of the Ourthe. She tried to save herself, but only had no chance against the water.

The heartbreaking testimony of Benjamin Van Bunderen Robberechts (15) © VTM NEWS

Benjamin risked his own life in the swirling water. “I was still able to get to Rosa. And I held her and then we were dragged together for a little over a hundred yards. But then an even greater tidal wave came down on us, sweeping her away. They found her three days later a few kilometers further along the Ourthe.” Benjamin still thinks about that dramatic event every day.

With their music, Neve and Van Reybrouck draw attention to what they call the first climate victims in our country. Something Benjamin appreciates. “I think it is beautiful. It was so beautiful. It was powerful and so right. We must not forget the climate victims.”

Also see: Friends Rosa (15) at climate march: “She drowned in Ourthe”

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