Film disasters become reality: ‘Impossible in Holland’

Anyone who watched the 2004 films The Day After Tomorrow or the 2014 Into the Storm movie when they came out could not have imagined that such a thing would become a reality. However, last weekend’s hurricane streak is getting very close.

“As a result of climate change, we may see more extreme conditions,” meteorologist Rainer van den Berg told EditieNL. “Like warm weather, tornadoes and floods.” We also have examples of this in the Netherlands. “We can see katabatic winds in Leersum more often because that’s part of the warmer climate. Or the floods in Limburg, Belgium and Germany.”

puzzle pieces

But the fact that movies later became a reality is basically a coincidence. “Thousands of films are made every year,” says film expert Rudi de Boer. “There’s always a good one.” One that also seemed to be becoming a reality recently is Contagion. “It was about a virus from China. And now we’re seeing that story again.” According to De Boer, there are few films with potentially predictive value in and around the Netherlands. Hollywood always exaggerates.

But such a disastrous scenario is unlikely to materialize in the Netherlands anyway. “This is practically impossible,” says meteorologist Van den Berg. “The conditions are very exceptional. Hence all kinds of puzzle pieces have to be put in place. These conditions such as heat, humidity and a lot of wind are very rare in our parts of Europe.”