What a weird day it was today… When I woke up I read the news that the small town of Woltersum, only a few kilometers away from my home, had been evacuated because of high water and potential flooding. I switched on the TV and for a couple of hours I just let the TV stations inform me what the heck was happening so close to my home. National TV showed live footage from the sports center in Ten Boer, where the people of Woltersum were taken care of. I looked at it, totally flabbergasted…
Yesterday I had agreed with my friend Ton that we were going to capture the sunset near Ternaard. He contacted me on Twitter and said that he would understand if I had other things to do. My house is in the area that is considered safe so I decided to go with Ton and his friend Peter. We drove past National Park Lauwersmeer. The water level there was extremely high. We listened to the local radio station that kept updating us with the latest news on the high water.
Then we arrived at the location we had in mind and for over two hours, I completely forgot about everything that had happened. I was flabbergasted again, but this time it was about the beauty of nature and the area we were in. Beautiful soft light, weird mud structures formed by the tide of the Waddensea, stunning skies with beautiful reflections: it was all there. Despite the wind which was very cold at times, we had a blast and lots of photos were taken. This is a location I will definitely revisit! When the light was gone after two hours, we returned to our car.
When we drove home, the surreal situation in the Ten Boer area kicked in again as we were listening to the radio. The people in Woltersum are not allowed to return to their homes tonight. The situation is still unstable, mainly because new weak spots were discovered in the dike that separates the Eemskanaal (a canal) from the area where I’m living. When we drove past the Lauwersmeer area again, the water was still very high and the pumping station near Lauwersoog didn’t seem to be pumping any water out to sea. The water in the Eemskanaal was a bit lower though, but the weather forecast is worrying for tomorrow. So I guess another surreal day awaits. For now I leave you with two more shots taken at Ternaard today…
Ron
