The Deltaworks

In 1953, something terrible happened, it was the night of January 31 to February 1. It was very high water because it was spring-tide (at spring-tide the water comes higher as at the normal high-tide), and with that there was a storm from the direction West or Northwest, so the water was pushed to the Dutch coast. That storm became a hurricane and pushed the water to the Dutch coast with a power that the dike's couldn't stop. The water was pushed to, and over the dike's. When the water was over the dike's it destroyed them at the landside and they broke. A few days later the results of the flood where known, 1835 inhabitants where dead, more then 47,000 houses where destroyed, 201,000 animals where dead, 500 kilometers of dikes destroyed and 72,000 people had to leave their houses during the flood.

After that flood, people agreed there had to come something to stop floods in the future. It was the start of the Deltaworks. The Deltaplan was a big plan which had to stop floods in the future. The Deltaplan contained:

To make all sea dike's higher
To close a few arms of the sea by building twelve dams

This image shows a part of Holland, Zealand. All red lines indicate there is a dam there. If you see a dam but no water, it is because this is not a very detailed map.

The biggest dam of the Deltaworks is the "Oosterscheldedam", but it is not a real dam. It is a very big sort of bridge that stands on many piers. Between those piers you will find big metal plates. If there is a flood the plates are lowered so no water can come through. The other dams are all real dams.