Thirty centimeters of water. Cinema owner Chris De Zio found this in the auditorium on Friday evening. Just before cinemas reopened, the LAB-1 cinema hall was empty after the harsh weather in Eindhoven. “The water came from the sewers. We were able to provide the equipment at the right time.”
The water in room 1 was almost gone around 9am, and a staff member was still shoveling water into containers with an ice shovel. But downstairs, water still flows on the walls.
It’s a quarter past seven when Chris sees Keizersgracht underwater. “Not long after, the Eindhoven sewers will rise here.” In line with this force the toilet floor jumped. “We couldn’t do anything more than that.”
In the back of the room the water was ten centimeters, and the height of the water was thirty centimeters near the cinema screen. “We would have been able to stop the rain otherwise we would have suffered a lot of damage.”
And according to Chris, they had another luck. “We were still here with seven people because we were preparing everything for the reopening. Thanks to these people, we were able to save a lot of equipment.”
They were also able to prevent water from entering the lobby as a result. “If we figure everything out tomorrow, I don’t want to know what the lobby and basement will look like.”
In the cellar, the water is collected by a vacuum cleaner. Because the water flows along the walls of the hall.
Toilets must be completely renovated. We only want to open on June 9, so hopefully the room won’t smell bad soon,” says Chris while looking at the glossy floor.
“It looked like a movie. There was a river in the street and the water was high along the building.” Thankfully, Chris still laughs about it.
The reopening has already dominated the coming days, but now we will have to work even harder. Because after being closed for six months, LAB-1 only wants to open on Wednesday.
