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Belgian and Dutch parks floodings

Phantasiastisch

Mega Poster
Recent days, large areas in Belgium, the Netherlands & Germany flooded. I was at Phantasialand last Tuesday and Wednesday.

There was also a small flooding in Phantasialand. Wednesday FLY was closed all day. Testing went on all day but the train barely made it over the hill after launch 2. There was water in the lowest parts of Rookburgh.

Deep in Africa was under a layer of water as well, Black Mamba's holding basin (pond under the track after the loop and 1st corkscrew) could not handle the amount of water, so Black Mamba sometimes had to close. Also today, I read on social media.

The slope between Wuze Town and Crazy Bats had turned into a river. To reach the entrance to Crazy Bats, you had to step through the cascading water.

Also, water from the Mystery parking, which runs downhill towards the park, flowed into the park like a flowing river through the opening of the park entrance past Mystery (behind Mystery Castle). Fortunately, this is the deepest point and the park is seriously uphill from there.

Luckily Brühl & so is Phantasialand didn't flooded compelty like it did at 'neighboring' villages.

But all day long attractions fell silent and there were breakdowns. Even indoor attractions like Maus au Chocolat & the Winjas. Taron had malfunctions and sometimes took a break. At Colorado Adventure, trains ran at half capacity. Only the front parts of the train were filled. Anyone have any idea what they're doing this for?

We stayed in the new - and you are all well-known by now - hotel Charles Lindbergh. Here people were mopping with all their might. It was literally mopping with the tap open. There is definitely damage to the hotel. In the lobby, water came in like a dripping shower between the glass dome and concrete structure. In the concrete staircase leading to bar1919 and Restaurant Uhrwerk, the water drifted down the walls. The open corridors along the rooms were full of water. The small drains could not handle the amount of water. Very sad to see this. It is painfully clear that the hotel is not quite well built after all and that some work is needed.

Fortunately, this was not so bad compared to what villages had to endure a few kilometers away. It was nevertheless remarkable and exceptional to experience Phantasialand in this condition. I wondered they did not close the park on Wednesday.

I hope everyone sees better times soon. Both themeparks and other entrepreneurs and the people/citizens in the street.
 

Peter Immelmann

Mega Poster
Thanks for reporting this, I was actually asking myself how Phantasialand would deal with the situation. Surprisingly there was nothing on their website. Glad to hear that the damage is not too big. Dramatic situation though for the people in the region, must have been a nightmare.
 

VikingsAf

Mega Poster
I read a comment somewhere that Taron and Black Mamba are closed due to water in their lower terrain areas.
I was at PHL yesterday. They had not much issues with the flooding, except for some minor shutdowns. They were saved from the worst, when you see that 5 miles more south houses were demolished and roads destroyed.
Walibi is indeed in a much worse state, and I think they won't be opening for 2 weeks at least. (Aqualibi might reopen sooner)
 

UP87

Mega Poster
At Colorado Adventure, trains ran at half capacity. Only the front parts of the train were filled. Anyone have any idea what they're doing this for?
If it's too wet the drive tire lift can't handle the weight of the full train and the train would slip backwards.

They were saved from the worst, when you see that 5 miles more south houses were demolished and roads destroyed.
Not by the rain itself but by small streams becoming full blown rivers and breaking dams. Still... just luck for the park and bad luck for too many people.
 

bratcurry

Mega Poster
climate change (polar icecap temperature increase) is effecting all of central Europe with massive slow moving downpours.
It's not all about climate change. Please stop spreading fake news.
They were saved from the worst, when you see that 5 miles more south houses were demolished and roads destroyed.
That's due to incompetent politicians not saving their people though. The rain (and flood) were expected by meteorologists way before they happened but local government didn't prepare for it. They didn't do anything like a deer stopping in the middle of the street to stare in to the headlights and wait for the impact.
 

Dar

Hyper Poster
It's not all about climate change. Please stop spreading fake news.

That's due to incompetent politicians not saving their people though. The rain (and flood) were expected by meteorologists way before they happened but local government didn't prepare for it. They didn't do anything like a deer stopping in the middle of the street to stare in to the headlights and wait for the impact.
"FaKe nEWs" is the lamest rebuttal. It requires no critical thinking or arguments just "fake news!" and the problem goes away. Except it's not fake and, at this point, climate change is barely news.

To paraphrase, we've expected climate change for years, decades even, and politicians have buried their heads and done nothing except pass the buck.

It's a shame how climate change has caused multiple parks to close, potentially for the rest of the season. I really feel sorry for European parks this season, loads of them have invested huge amounts of money and they're just not seeing the returns because of external forces. :(
 

ECG

East Coast(er) General
Staff member
Administrator
It's not all about climate change. Please stop spreading fake news.
It's not "fake news", nor did I say that it's all caused by climate change. However, climate change is the major contributor to what's going on (including the shift of the Gulf Stream as well as the warmer atmosphere holding more moisture and generating more powerful rainfall). Respected news sources like the Associated Press, Reuters, Deutsche Presse Agentur, the New York Times, etc. do not report "fake news".

 

bratcurry

Mega Poster
It's not "fake news", nor did I say that it's all caused by climate change. However, climate change is the major contributor to what's going on (including the shift of the Gulf Stream as well as the warmer atmosphere holding more moisture and generating more powerful rainfall). Respected news sources like the Associated Press, Reuters, Deutsche Presse Agentur, the New York Times, etc. do not report "fake news".

Well, yes, unsurprisingly they do. In short: Climate change is expected to cause less and less severe floods during summer. This has nothing to do with climate change but with missed precaution and stupid decisions regarding building permits.

See: and https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/upl...L7T9Z_v90dfj0RoV7tON56JYdQnqxdzAibrHLByIoA1Ww

It's nothing new that so called journalists are only reporting one site of the story when it comes to climate change and are citing just only those sources that make it seem as if everything was about climate change but it isn't. Please check their sources before you believe everything they write.
 

FarleyFlavors

Mega Poster
It's nothing new that so called journalists are only reporting one site of the story when it comes to climate change and are citing just only those sources that make it seem as if everything was about climate change but it isn't. Please check their sources before you believe everything they write.
Didn't take me long to check your source. One Bjorn Lomborg, a nut-job climate change denier who wrote a book called The Skeptical Environmentalist which was studied in detail by a group of scientists...
seriously flawed and failing to meet basic standards of credible scientific analysis, accusing Lomborg of presenting data in a fraudulent way, using flawed logic and selectively citing non-peer-reviewed literature.
So it's no surprise at all that "so called journalists" aren't reporting his side of the story.
 

bratcurry

Mega Poster
Didn't take me long to check your source. One Bjorn Lomborg, a nut-job climate change denier who wrote a book called The Skeptical Environmentalist which was studied in detail by a group of scientists...

So it's no surprise at all that "so called journalists" aren't reporting his side of the story.
The **** are you talking about? He's just the messenger not the message. Read again and we can talk. Also the IPCC is not reliable now? 😒😒😒
 

ECG

East Coast(er) General
Staff member
Administrator
... This has nothing to do with climate change but with missed precaution and stupid decisions regarding building permits...
So missed precaution and stupid decisions regarding building permits caused Brend, the slow moving low that dumped all that rain on Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of Germany? Yeah, those things contributed to preventable damage, injuries and deaths, but missed precaution and stupid decisions regarding building permits due not affect weather. Climate change does affect weather, whether deniers believe it or not. Next thing you're going to tell me is the extreme heat wave and forest fires in the western U.S. and Canada are caused by the lack of smoke detectors in homes or not clearing up the fallen leaves on the forest floors. :rolleyes:
 

bratcurry

Mega Poster
So missed precaution and stupid decisions regarding building permits caused Brend, the slow moving low that dumped all that rain on Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of Germany? Yeah, those things contributed to preventable damage, injuries and deaths, but missed precaution and stupid decisions regarding building permits due not affect weather. Climate change does affect weather, whether deniers believe it or not. Next thing you're going to tell me is the extreme heat wave and forest fires in the western U.S. and Canada are caused by the lack of smoke detectors in homes or not clearing up the fallen leaves on the forest floors. :rolleyes:
Bruh, if you want to act stupid, so be it. But weather does not equal climate. And one extreme weather phenomenon does not prove climate change. I'm not a denier of climate change either, it's just super annoying and not a bit helpful to make everything about climate change, especially when climate change would cause the opposite. But I'm done talking to a wall. You don't want to hear facts.
 

Rein

Roller Poster
Justien Dewil, spokeswoman of Walibi Belgium, even said that they are afraid that - depending on the damage - it could be possible they won't reopen again this season...
I think it's still too early to draw that conclusion. For now, the park will stay closed for the rest of the month.
 
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