Houseboat breaks loose at partly washed away Maastricht dam

A houseboat in Maastricht broke loose during the night from Wednesday into Thursday, and then crashed into a bridge. This happened at the same place where part of a spillway dam was washed away on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the regional emergency services office confirmed.

There was nobody on the houseboat at the time out of concern of such an incident. All houseboats in the relevant area between the Maas and the Zuid-Willemsvaart in the Boschpoort district were evacuated on Wednesday.

The houseboat and the bridge in the Stuwweg were damaged. The houseboat is still leaning against the closed bridge. It is unknown what caused the houseboat to become loose. According to the spokesman, it will be a combination of how it was secured and the fast-flowing water.

On Wednesday, the strong current broke the 120-meter-wide spillway over a width of 50 meters. As a result, the houseboats were in danger of leaning crookedly. A total of about thirty boats were subsequently evacuated.

Spillways are used to adjust water flow by lowering them at a dam so water only flows away once it reaches a certain. As the water rises during high tide, it can flow over the spillway.