Today it is exactly 65 years ago. On the night of January 31 and February 1, the dikes broke in Zeeland, South Holland, and Brabant, three provinces of the Netherlands.
There was a disaster, especially in Zeeland, 1836 people died in that night and in the days that followed. Tens of thousands lost their home and their belongings.
Within half an hour the water was 2 to 3 meters high in some villages.
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Wikipedia
The course of the disaster was a storm surge in combination with spring tides. The dikes could not handle so much water.
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Here you can see which part of the Netherlands was flooded. On the first picture on the left, you can see what has been done later to prevent another disaster. The Deltawerken! Big dams were built to prevent the water from the see entering the water between the islands.
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Not only people died as you can imagine, also a lot of cattle died during the disaster.
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Many people were saved by rescuing them by boat.
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It was necessary to rescue people from the roofs of their houses because some houses were almost totally under water.
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My parents lived in Dordrecht, this town in South-Holland was also suffering from the high water, but not as bad as in Zeeland. My mother was expecting me. It is strange to realize that if she had lived in Zeeland, she might have died and I would never have been born because I would have died with her.
But I am alive and well and the Dutch built these dams, so there is not much chance that a new disaster will occur again.
That is if we stop the climate change because when the poles melt further and the seawater rises, you never know what will happen.
I wish you a nice and dry day,
Clio
What a big disaster, it was. I knew, some part of Nederland is under sea level, but 65 years ago it wasn't protected well flooding. I am so sorry who lost their life by that then. Glad your mom wasn't one of them and now you are informing us with the great articles.
Thank your @funworlding, I am also glad (although otherwise, I wouldn't have known it of course).
But I will try to make more great articles.
@clio thats not a good thing in history . but dear how old you were at that time
OMG very sad news my dear friend, please take care of yourself and your family, it is very cold and Also flood, very hard conditions to servive. I pray for god for the victims. Take care my friend I love you.
Thank you, Maya, it was a disaster in our country 65 years ago today. There are of course people who were alive then and still live. They will never forget the disaster because so many people died.
What a horrible tragedy!
Yes, it was a horrible tragedy. Tonight there was a program on Dutch television with amateur films made during the tragedy. Pictures are sad to look at, but when you see it on film it is even more moving to look at.
Oh, I bet! We had a few similar things that happened as I was growing up. There was a tornado in Xenia, Ohio that wiped out most of the town in the 1970's. A potent reminder to appreciate each moment! Thanks for your post.
Oh yes, this is a very terrible calamity and I sympathize with you and all the Golants with the events of the past. I can imagine how this can be experienced when there is water all around, there is neither home nor property, everything is flooded with water and your people made a lot during this time for safety from flooding. I've seen a lot of films about your dams, these are grandiose constructions and I really hope that you will be all right! Thank you Clio and keep us informed of what's happening!
Thank you for your comment. Indeed, the dams are grandiose constructions. It took almost 40 years to complete the "Delta plan", the construction of the dams and making the dikes higher. I will try to keep all of you informed.
This is a huge loss everytime such severe incident happens people have to start their life from null.... Really man @clio you expressed this post very well!!
Thank you for the compliment.
Very important to remember. I was not aware that today it was 65 years ago. Thanks for reminding me and lets hope it will never happen again!
It is so weird. Suppose my mother, who was expecting me, had died in the flood. Dordrecht was also flooded. Then you would also never have been born. Live is so dependent on coincidences.
I did not know that. this is very bad. I say this is not happening again. so everyone should have seen the resteem and upvote.
Yes, it was a very sad affair because so many people lost their lives
I wish them condolences ...
Oh.. Didn't know about this devastating event...Yes, climate change may cause more such disasters in future... Government of every country should look into it more seriously and take appropriate measures..
Yes, they must do that for sure, think of New Orleans, Bangladesh etc. there are so many regions where a flood has happened and can and will happen.
True...
I am afraid they don't listen. In England they build on floodplains and don't dredge rivers, some places flood every few years. I was flooded out of my retail store in Malibu that was built on a floodplain,only found out after the fact.
I am so sorry to hear that. Happily, you live on dryer ground now!
I am glad that in the Netherlands they anticipate more. A large part of the country is below sea level, so we must take precautions.
The condition of the world is getting worse. There is something terrible that the impact of lalima on the earth is rising. We do not want people to die in natural disasters. It's a very sad thing.
Yes it really is!
Glad we have huge dykes and the Deltawerken these days! To protect us from the water. Do we know what caused the sudden rise of the water back then? I assume climate change wasn't an issue back then as it is today.
The cause was a really hard storm from the west and spring tide and of course, they hadn't done enough to strengthen the dikes.
Terrible natural incident, I am sorry for the people who died from the flood @clio
What a "coincidence", I was asking Mark all about yesterday without knowing it was actually its "anniversary". It's sad to look all those pictures and imagine how much was lost.
That is surely a coincidence! Tonight there will be a program on Dutch television to remember this tragedy, 21.25 on Ned.2
I cartoonized this work on the Watersnoodramp. Thanks we are protected by the Delta Works now.
In those days the lorry would have been filled with sandbags. Because to stop the water they used sandbags. It is possible of course that this particular lorry was already emptied!!
Haha, i guess it was already emptied...
This is from a series i did for Daf and this is the 53 model.
I posted some more from this series #daf
What a horrible event for Holland. All those people and animals lost. Indeed a sad day to remember. Mother Nature is a force not to be toyed with. Climate change is such a worry and some still don't believe it is happening.
We can do a lot, technically spoken, but nature will be nature and there will be disasters as this one when we still keep putting our heads in the sand and don't do much about the climate change.
This really bad, but it's good that the dam is being constructed to prevent the flood. Because only that can prevent it from happening again.
Thanks so much so sharing your back history experience here, I joy reading it.
Very nice post about a piece of Dutch history. I like also these old pictures very much. Thanks for sharing.
About the poles. It is only the South Pole that poses a problem with melting. The South Pole ice is on land and the Seawater will rise when it melts. The North Pole ice floats in the sea and will not cause sea level rise when melted.
I am glad that I can add some physics to this historical piece. 😉
Greetings,
Ray #lifeisforliving
Je hebt natuurlijk helemaal gelijk. De wet van Archimedes niet?
OMG! this is a bad news! many people died as a result of the flood. GOD rest in peace. Thanks to GOD your parents is safe.
GOverment should seriously take action for future safe.
Have blessed day Mam!
Well they did take action and build the largest protective waterworks in the world.
This happened 65 years ago.
He was not the only one who thought it happened recently. People don't really read I think!
It seems so. I am very interested in history so you got my follow..
On another subject, i just posted a short story i made today and i'm very curious what you think about it.
If it's not too much trouble, could you take a look at it and tell me if it's any good?
I did take a look at your blog and found a lot of (beautiful) cartoons and I found Elohibaluk. That was really fantastic. Is that what you meant by your short story? I thought it was to become a book. I didn't found another short story by your hand today.
I posted it on another account and resteemed it. As it's a try out.
https://steemit.com/story/@weddingdresses/elon-and-the-space-man-part-ihttps://steemit.com/story/@weddingdresses/elon-and-the-space-man-part-i
feel bad for the people .. there should be some backup for that kind of satucation and there should be a rescue
very sad news. Seeing the pictures, the mind became very bad.
this is a bad news @clio very sad
so sad...news....... @cilo
oh thats really sad!but what we can do with natural disaster may god bless the soul of these died people and give patience to their family mambers ameen.
@clio really a huge loss... felt like crying,,
i wish this doesnt ever happen
Aww, really bad. That's why I keep urging everyone to go and learn how to swim! It is a survival technique,if all those people who died were expert swimmers many of them would have survived that flood.
Then, luckily your mom didn't live at Zeeland at the time 😀👍
@nevies (The Son Of Aphrodite)