Due to the enormous rainfall in recent days, the Zuiderweg in Assendelft has become flooded. The municipality of Zaanstad has closed the road to traffic. The Hollands Noorderkwartier water board previously spoke of a unique situation and has therefore deployed seven extra water pumps.
Niels Petra from Assendelft took this photo of the road south of Assendelft today. He posted the photo on Facebook and the people of Zaankant responded en masse. “That’s cool, a new sea lock at IJmuiden… Fortunately it didn’t cost that much” and “And just pay water board taxes… to keep your feet dry, they say,” are the responses.
Overflowed ditches
A spokesperson for the municipality of Zaanstad says that the flooded stretch of road has subsided in recent years. “During a period of heavy rainfall, the adjacent ditches overflow, causing water to run over the road.” He expects that – provided the weather conditions improve – the road should be passable again tomorrow. Whether that is the case will be checked tomorrow.
“It is really unprecedented what has happened one after the other,” says spokesperson Marko Cortel of the water board. “Once you get it up to par, an hour later there is such a gigantic amount of rain that you have to start all over again. The country is really saturated.”
Emergency pumps
In the fight against heavy rainfall, the water board has installed seven emergency pumps throughout the entire work area. These have been installed at pumping stations in the vicinity of Zijpe, Hoogwoud, Spanbroek, Heiloo, the Starnmeer polder, near Aartswoud and in Assendelft. “These emergency pumps are all next to an existing pumping station, where it takes effort to get the water down,” says Cortel.
Spokesperson for the municipality: Spokesperson: “The flooding on the Zuiderweg has our attention and the municipality has placed signs to warn about this. In addition, maintenance is planned for next year to remedy the nuisance. Whether this will be successful depends on availability and capacity .”