After the disaster, thousands of homes and farms were damaged. Survivors had lost everything in just two nights.
Interview with Dick Sies
Dick Sies survived the flood. In 2019, he shared his experience in an interview: "Before the flood, I lived with my parents and two younger sisters in Nieuwerkerk. After the disaster, I lost everything—my family as well as my home."
Advanced DIY Kit
How do you assemble a house with only an instruction manual in Norwegian? Google Translate didn’t exist yet. This was the challenge faced by the contractors during the construction of these homes.
Many people lost their homes, but not everyone received a new one. This led to significant debate over who would be allocated a house. Could you make a decision about which family gets a house and which one doesn’t?
Adjusting to the New Homes
The gift homes looked very different from what Dutch people were used to. For instance, there was no laundry room, but sometimes there was a sauna instead.
The gift houses were grouped together, creating vibrant, colorful streets with red, green, brown, and yellow houses. The street names reflected their origins, such as Oslostraat.
Brick Makeover
The appearance of the houses is still changing. Many residents are having stone walls built around their homes, as shown in this photo. Dick Sies and his wife also did this.
