Rising water update

26-1-2024 – The ice has melted and we identified the damaged areas. The barrier at Hemmeland is working again since this morning, so you can park inside the barrier.

Electricity is working at Waterland, Hemmeland on the A to D jetty and the electrical boxes on the Hemmeland toilet building. The cabinets at field 4 and the Hemmeland E to H jetties are not yet working, we hope to take steps here next Monday to get this working again.
Do you have a fixed power supply but no power? Then you may have a short circuit in the cord or plug. Disconnect and check the cord. All connections are fused at 10A.

Storms Isha and Jocelyn (with Jocelyn being the tougher) passed without much damage. If there is something wrong with the boat, we will contact you.

The water level is now back to NAP -7, it is unclear if and when Rijkswaterstaat will use the winter level.

20-1-2024 – After the high water came frost and snow. The harbor froze and a thin layer of ice could also be found on the flooded areas. The water level is still quite high (NAP +10), this will drop somewhat with the predicted storm this weekend.

Regarding power: because it is all still frozen, we now only have power on the larger switches at the Waterland location. At Waterland, the main switches have been flooded to a limited extent, but the private power connections still need to be checked. If you want to insert the plug into a high “SEP” box: first check whether the plug itself is dry. The power can short circuit quite quick under these circumstances.
The electricity on Hemmeland requires more attention. A short circuit has occurred here because the dike was broken through. We need to find out where this was and work from there. For now there is power at the Hemmeland A to D jetty, unfortunately the barrier is not working yet. The cameras are also working again (because they are partly on the Waterland network).

14-1-2024 – Peace has returned. The water level is now NAP +7 and the areas are slowly thawing. Because there was so much water on the site, only the top layer was frozen. This ice layer is still at the Hemmeland location, the Waterland location has melted hard on Saturday.

Neighbour Klaas van der Lingen made a drone video about the flooding Friday around noon. The file itself is too large, you can see it on Facebook. We did take a few stills from this film. You can see that the water is still very high at Hemmeland and the jetties at Waterland are above water again.

The Waterland location was accessible by car again today, the Hemmeland location is still closed for cars. There is still a lot of water on the site. We will not have electricity available for the next few days, we first have to check what the damage is due to the flooding.

11-1-2024 – The thaw continues and the water level is at NAP +14 because it can be lowered now. Unfortunately, the jetties are not yet accessible due to the ice formation, which will require further thawing. The harbour entrances are not yet easily accessible due to the frost.

The frost does create lovely pictures, here you see the roundabout at Hemmeland and the ice growth at the Hemmeland A jetty.

The ice is not reliable. Because it started freezing with an easterly wind and then the level dropped, it is a thin and unstable ice floor. Several work ships have already gone through, so don’t think you can skate on the Gouwzee in Monnickendam. For that you really have to go to an ice rink somewhere else.

10-1-2024 – The decline did indeed continue. The water drops steadily, leaving ice behind. The temperature today was around freezing point, ice growth remained limited. The wind decreased slightly and will change direction tomorrow, when we expect the water to drop even further.

We can’t get onto the jetties yet. The transition from land to jetty is icy and the road to get there is not without challenges.
Hopefully it will thaw well tomorrow, then at least the jetty will be accessible again.

During the harbour rounds last week we saw that a number of mooring lines are in serious need of replacement. A mooring line is a special type of line that can absorb stretch/movement of the boat. An old outhaul or halyard cannot do this. We sell various lines at the Waterland location and can give you advice.

9-1-2024 – The decline has begun! It is not going fast yet, but we are seeing a drop in the water level. There was mild frost last night (-1°C), this is also predicted for this night. The moderate frost will be over again on Thursday, so the harbour can dry out nicely.

Don’t come to the harbour yet. The receding water has frozen over and creates a thin layer of ice towards the jetties. Our colleagues had to slide to the harbour boat today, you really can’t get to the jetty properly. The harbour check with the boat was done, there were two boats whose mooring lines had come loose. They have been notified.

About the electricity: the junction boxes on the jetty and on the site have been flooded. The water in there is now frozen. If the thaw continues, these junction boxes must first dry, then be checked and only then can the electricity be turned on again. We have to check approximately 300 electrical points on the jetty and 30 on the land, so this is a bit of a work. We expect to start this next week and don’t know how long it will take.

It might be good to know what the sites are that we use to keep up to date with weather & wind: Windfinder here at the marina and the waterhoogtes at Edam as measured by RWS.

From now on we will no longer send emails every day, but will post our updates on the website, Facebook en Instagram. When there is big news (like the electricity being reconnected or something else unexpected), we will email our berth holders.

8-1-2024 – Today we would have a 2nd peak in the water level at noon. We did experience it but it was only a little more than yesterday. The models for what is to come are unclear, the municipality of Waterland speaks of another peak in water level for tonight. It is important: there are no details in the harbour now.

Today we inspected the harbour with our boat and fixed a boat with a broken mooring line. Furthermore, we helped our neighbours reaching the boats now that the jetties are becoming more dangerous due to the ice. The harbour is still not easily accessible due to flooding and ice, therefore only come to the port in case of an emergency. Do you have doubts about your boat: email us! We are now present at full strength, so we can do more than last week.

Good news is that windfinder.com weather station is working again. As you can see, we now have gusts of 30 knots, it will stay that way this night. We will see what tomorrow brings.

7-1-2024 – The first peak in water level was at noon today. The water level was NAP +47 with large parts of the harbour under water. Today it was possible to drain, so we saw that the level did not rise as quickly with this wind.

The next peak is expected tomorrow evening. The wind forecast is ENE with gusts like experienced this morning. We are confident that no more damage will occur.

Today’s photos are from our neighbor Klaas van der Lingen (the drone photo of Hemmeland), Dental Practice de Haven for the photo of the city center of Monnickendam and a photo from the harbour square from where the slipway was.

After the Christmas break, we will all be back at the office tomorrow from 8:30 am and hope that the water will drain away quickly Only then can we see what the damage is.

6-1-2024 – the water continues to rise. It is rising steadily and will continue to rise now that the wind is turning to the east. Both locations will remain closed in the coming days, all electricity will remain off as long as the water level is high.

We did a round with the harbour boat today and all the ships were in good condition. No worries for the yachts on the shore: they are on a cradle and will not float any time soon. If there are any specifics, we will get in touch with you.

It might be good to indicate how this nuisance arose. Rijkswaterstaat has a Water Level Decree for the IJsselmeer area. This describes summer levels and winter levels. Winter level for this area would be around NAP -30 and is usually started at the end of the summer. This did not happen last autumn: we informed them several times that with a reading of +10 NAP in November, a flood was expected. Rijkswaterstaat decided to wait with this unnecessary flooding as a result.

The level is now NAP +39 and will rise another 15 cm in the next 48 hours (not including wave action) We hope that the weather gods are kind to us and that things will not be too bad.

Yesterday a drone video was made of the flooding, which can be viewed via this link.

5-1-2024 – The water has a grip on us, and it will remain that way in the coming days. Last night a dike broke during work on Hemmeland, causing the location to flood. We have therefore decided to close both locations (Waterland and Hemmeland).

There will be an easterly wind this weekend. The water will then rise even further. We are currently NAP +35, this will probably increase by another 15-45 cm due to the wind blowing up the water. We make rounds as long as possible and adjust the mooring lines so that the boat remains properly moored. So far there has been no damage to boats due to the rising water.

The electricity has been turned off for all boats. This means that there are no longer any boats on the power: it is simply not safe with this high water. We will turn it back on when the water has dropped sufficiently, which could take more than a week.

Do not come to the harbour. We can be reached by email and telephone for questions about the boat.

3-1-2024 – The new year started stormy here with storm Henk. Fortunately, this gave few concerns.

A bigger concern is the rising water. . Parts of the harbour at the Waterland location are flooded. It is expected that when the wind turns to the east, the water will rise considerably. Electrical connections are critical. Part of the electricity on the Waterland jetties E-F-G-H is currently disabled because connection boxes are flooded. In the event of a further increase, we will switch off all electricity on all jetties to limit damage to the electricity network We will turn it back on when the water has receded enough. Don’t forget to take boots with you when visiting the harbour.

If the boat has not been winterized, we advise you to do this. The frost is coming next week. Good to know: our stock of antifreeze is currently empty.