Characteristics

• Built to prevent the Netherlands, which is below sea level, from being flooded during severe storms
• Two areas that were severely affected by the storms include the large tidal inlet named Zuider Zee and the delta created by the Rhine and Meuse rivers
• The tidal inlet called Zuider Zee was dammed after a storm in 1916
• The dam is 300 feet wide at sea level and 25 feet high at the level of its causeway
• Then in 1953 another storm hit the southwestern provinces and caused a lot of damage, which included more than 1800 deaths
• A plan was then made to dam the southwestern delta

Technology

• Construction on the dam to surround Zuider Zee began in 1923
• Zuider Zee was then drained, leaving behind more than half a million acres of farmland
• The hardest part of building the dam was a two mile long surge barrier in the Oosterschelde estuaries
• A movable barrier had to be made for fishermen
• The movable barrier was made up of 65 concrete piers that weighed 18,000 tons each
• The 65 piers support steel gates of 300 to 500 tons along with their hydraulic machinery
• The dam was completed in 1984

Wonder Qualities

• Helps keep the Netherlands from being flooded, since much of it lies below sea level
• Provides the people of the Netherlands with a lot of farmland
• Without the dams, living near the large tidal inlet, Zuider Zee, or the delta created by the Rhine and Meuse rivers would be impossible
• '"In terms of magnitude," an American trade journal wrote, the North Sea project "approaches of the Great Wall of China. In terms of complexity and technical sophistication, it approaches the lunar shot. It is unique, expensive, and quite unlike any other civil engineering project to be found on this planet."' (www.wonderclub.com)