With its not always predictable forces, the high tide knocked a houseboat against the bridge over the Stuwweg in Maastricht in the night from Wednesday to Thursday. The strong current continues to pound the ship and a pillar of the bridge on Thursday afternoon, which has largely come loose from the road surface above. The unnatural buckling confirms what the authorities say: the bridge is about to collapse. If that happens, the boat and bridge will inevitably disappear further downstream.
On Wednesday afternoon, the residents of the houseboats in the neighborhood on the north side of Maastricht were evacuated. The water had washed away part of the overflow in the canal where their ships were moored. At that time, no one took into account the possibility of the most spacious houseboat (two floors above deck) becoming loose.
Neither does resident Irma Brants. She was too shaken to respond on Thursday afternoon: “I am now sitting with my sister in a forty-square-meter apartment and am trying to go to sleep. Then someone from the insurance company will come.”
Lieke Oexeman has lived for more than three decades across the street from where Brants' boat was moored until last night, at one of the more than twenty mooring spots that remain inaccessible for the time being due to the impassable bridge. She saw around noon on Wednesday that something was wrong with the landing. She had no idea of the much bigger problems later. “At half past five my husband called me at work. Whether I could immediately come by car to get things from the boat, because we were being evacuated.”
She is now staying – for three nights for now – in a motel in Urmond, about twenty kilometers north of Maastricht. There the mobile phone remains constantly within range. “To see if there is any news.”
The loosening of Brants' houseboat in particular surprised her. “The position of another houseboat, closest to the break in the landing, seemed the most risky. It was already a bit tilted on Wednesday.”
Beavers and kingfishers
It is beautiful and free living on the island of Oexeman. Due to the river widening project, it has turned into a nature reserve in recent years, where the water level varies with the height of the Meuse. Behind the now partly broken overflow, at low water levels, there is nothing more than a babbling brook towards the Maas where jumping fish, beavers, kingfishers and many other animals can be found.
Sandbags were placed on the landing during high tide in the summer of 2021. Oexeman was also evacuated at the time. “Then we were allowed to return after a day. The fact that things are now going wrong at a much lower water level is probably due to a defect in the weir in the Maas near Borgharen. And perhaps there was still something wrong with the overflow in our canal.”
May van de Kerkhof, director of network management at Rijkswaterstaat South Netherlands, confirms the problems with the weir at Borgharen. “It cannot be completely ironed out. The problem was already discovered in the autumn, but it cannot be repaired during the high water season (winter). Due to the defect, less water can pass through that location and more water passes with greater force through the canal near the houseboats.” In any case, the weir is a waterwork that requires continued monitoring, she says. “It is almost a century old.”
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There was nothing wrong with the overflow before the current high water, Van de Kerkhof claims. “It was properly repaired in 2021 and was subsequently inspected regularly, even every day at these types of water levels.”
Eight thousand kilo nets
If the necessary materials and equipment are available on site, Rijkswaterstaat wants to build a dam at the site of the overflow. Stones are placed in nets that then weigh approximately eight thousand kilos each. Defense is helping with that job and is looking at the possibilities for an emergency bridge. The broken bridge was mainly used as an access road to the houseboats and the weir and for cyclists and walkers.
Mayor Wim Hillenaar of Maastricht (CDA) finds the situation “miserable” for the residents. He hopes they can return home around the end of the weekend. Much will depend on the drop in water levels and the progress of work on the dam and bridge.
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