A penetrating report of the disaster that took place on February 1 in Polder 'De Eendracht'
Already in the evening of January 31, 1953, the situation became critical for the dike of the polder 'De Eendracht'. This was on the Wadden Sea side of Texel, south of De Cocksdorp. Superintendent Ten Hoorn called the dike watch. In the early morning the waves crashed all over the dike and at a quarter past eight it broke. The polder quickly filled up. The water surprised a group of volunteers who had been brought to a farm by bus. When the danger became clear, they fled to the dike of the Eierland polder, further inland. Along that dike, however, was an extra low strip of land. The current was very strong here. Even the bus was dragged off the road into the ditch by the rapidly rising water.
It cost 6 people their lives, 5 of them from the village of De Waal.