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The Netherlands have been the site of a endless battle between the people and the water. For over two millennia the Dutch have been fighting against floods and reclaiming land from the sea. The sea has been driven back, but at a high cost. Countless people have lost homes and lives to the sea or the rivers. Nearly everyone in the Netherlands knows that every square meter of soil came at a high cost, yet giving up is not an option. THE FIGHT BEGINS Terp A Terp (or '''Wierde''') is an artificial Hill , made to create a safe haven at High Tide . Terp means village in Frisian . Many villages in the Dutch province of Friesland still have names, such as Bolsward , which are related to these words, showing that the village was built on such a structure. The first Terps were build around 500 BC, and ended with the coming of the Dike somewhere around 1200. During the 18th and 19th centuries many terps were destroyed to use the fertile soil the contained for argricultural purposes. The largest terp, seen on the picture to the right, is still preserved. Vliedberg A Vliedberg is a small artificial hill, created in the Dark Ages , to provide refuge from rising waters. The are found in large numbers in the south and west of the Netherlands. They were not intended for permanent habitation, but provided temporary place of safety for local people and their animals. NEW ARMS: DIKES, POLDERS AND WINDMILLS Dikes , a 32 km dyke in the Netherlands.]] A dike (or '''dyke''') is an artificial earthen wall, constructed as a defence or as a boundary. The best known form of dike is a construction built along the edge of a body of water, to prevent it from Flood ing onto an adjacent lowland. Dikes can be mainly found along the sea, where dunes are not strong enough, along rivers for protection against high-floods, along lakes or along polders. Furthermore, dikes have been built for the purpose of em Polder ing, or as a boundary for an inundation area. The latter can be a controlled inundation by the military or a measure to prevent inundation of a larger area surrounded by dikes. Dikes have also been built as field boundaries and as military Defences . More on this type of dike can be found in the article on Dry-stone Wall s. Dikes can be permanent Earthworks or emergency constructions (often of Sandbag s) built hastily in a flood emergency. Where such an emergency bank is an addition to the topan existing one, it is known as a ''cradge''. The word dike is associated with the Netherlands "''dijk''", where dikes were built as early as the 12th century, to protect the Dutch against the sea and reclaim land. Polders , Netherlands ]] A polder is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial Hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as Dikes . Some need Drainage by Pump s to prevent the water table within it from rising too high. Some can be drained by opening Sluice s at Low Tide . The best-known examples are those polders that constitute areas of Land Reclaimed from a body of water, such as a Lake or the Sea , and are consequently below the surrounding water level. Polders are most commonly found, though not exclusively so, in the Netherlands , the country they are frequently associated with. Windmills In Europe , windmills were developed in the Middle Ages . The earliest mills were probably grinding mills. They were mounted on city walls and could not be turned into the wind.With some subsequent development mills became versatile in windy regions for all kind of industry, most notably Grain grinding mills, Sawmill s (late 16th Century ), Threshing , and, by applying Archimedes' Screw s, pumping mills. They soon became the major energy source in the low lands, where the older Watermill s could hardly operate due to the lack of height difference in the water ways. The pumping mills allowed the drainage of the Dutch wetlands to claim new land, Polder s. By continuously pumping water out to the rivers, land below sea level could be created. The earliest Dutch polders date from the middle ages, the first lake was emptied by Jan Leeghwater from 1607 . To claim ever more land it became necessary to build series of mills (molengang, Mill Pace ), because an Archimedes screw can only efficiently pump water for a limited height. Each mill pumps water into a higher reservoir, with the last pumping it out to the river. In the 18th Century several molendriegangen (3 mills), and molenviergangen (4 mills), were built. The largest preserved mill pace in Kinderdijk was awarded World Heritage status in 1997. The mills were crucial and escential in reclaiming and preserving the land and untill the arrival of steam and especially diesel powered Pumps , they were an extremely common site in the Dutch landscape.The system used was ingenious as well as practical and simple.A series of mills, the number depending on the size of the polder were placed at different hights and so the water could be transported from the polders below Sea Level to a higher nearby River or Canal . THE BIG GUNS ARRIVE The Afsluitdijk ( 1932 ) The Afsluitdijk (Closure-dike) is a major dam in the Netherlands , constructed between 1927 and 1933 and running from Den Oever on Wieringen in North Holland province, to the village of Zurich (mun. Wûnseradiel ) in Fryslân province, over a length of 32 Km and a width of 90 M , at an initial height of 7.25 m above Sea-level () . It is a fundamental part of the larger Zuiderzee Works , damming off the Zuiderzee , a salt water inlet of the North Sea and turning it into the fresh water lake of the IJsselmeer . Previous experiences had demonstrated that and Breezand) along the line of the future dike. From these points the dike slowly grew by ships depositing till into the open sea in two parallel lines. Sand was then poured in between the two dams and as it emerged above the surface was then covered by another layer of till. The nascent dike was then strengthened from land by basalt rocks and mats of willow switch at its base. The dike could then be finished off by raising it further with sand and finally clay for the surface of the dike, on which grass was planted. Construction progressed better than expected; at three points along the line of the dike there were deeper underwater trenches where the tidal current was much stronger than elsewhere. These had been considered to be major obstacles to completing the dike, but all of them proved to be relatively straightforward. On May 28 , 1932 , two years earlier than initially thought, the Zuiderzee ceased to be as the last tidal trench of the ''Vlieter'' was closed by a final bucket of till. The IJsselmeer was born, even though it was still salty at the time. The dike itself however was not finished yet as it still needed to be brought up to its required height and a road linking Friesland and North Holland (the current A7/E22 motorway) also remained to be built. It would not be until September 25 , 1933 , that the Afsluitdijk was officially opened, with a monument marking the spot where the dike had been closed. The amount of material used is estimated at 23 million m³ of sand and 13.5 million m³ of till and over the years an average of around four to five thousand workers were involved with the construction every day, relieving some of the unemployment following the Great Depression . Delta Works , the largest of 13 Delta Works' dams.'']] In the North Sea Flood Of 1953 , breaks in the Dike s and seawalls in The Netherlands killed 1,835 people and forced the evacuation of 70,000 more. 10,000 animals drowned, and 4,500 buildings were destroyed. To prevent such a tragedy from happening again, an ambitious flood defense system was conceived and deployed, called the Delta Works ( Dutch : ''Deltawerken''). This project was intended to improve the safety of the lower areas of the Netherlands against severe storms and Flood ing; since more than one third of the nation's land lies below Sea Level , this is no simple task. Dune s along the entire seashore were raised by as much as 5 metres, while the islands in Zeeland province were joined together by Dam s and other large scale constructions to shorten the coastline. The most sophisticated and famous of these dams is the '' Oosterscheldekering '' (left of the leftmost "i" on the satellite image), which can be opened and closed to keep the sea at bay while preserving the saltwater River Delta for wildlife and the Fishing industry. Less known, but not less impressive, is the '' Maeslantkering '' storm surge barrier near the port of Rotterdam . However, there is an ongoing fundamental discussion about the basics of the Delta Works: the mainland is Subsiding and due to Climate Change s Sea Levels Are Rising . Eventually the dikes will have to be made higher and wider. This is a long term uphill battle against the sea, which many feel cannot be won. (The very History Of The Netherlands , much of whose territory is reclaimed from the sea, would seem to belie this view, however.) Some people argue that relocation of population centres and giving up land to the sea would be a longer lasting solution than to 'fight the sea'. However, the Netherlands have a very high Population Density and can ill afford the loss of habitable and arable land. The Maeslant Barrier ( 1997 ) The construction of the Maeslantkering was a part of the "Europoortkering"-project which, in turn, was the final stage of the Delta Works . The main objective of this Europoortkering-project was improving the safety against Flooding of the Rotterdam harbour, of which the Europoort is an important part, and the surrounding towns and agricultural areas. This had to by carried out by the reinforcement of existing dikes as far as 50 kilometers Inland . During the 1980s it became clear that this project would take at least 30 years and would cost a huge amount of money. It would also mean that historic town centres, sometimes built more than four centuries ago, had to be broken down and rebuilt behind renewed, larger dikes.This storm surge barrier had to be located in the Nieuwe Waterweg waterway. This played an important role in the planning stage of the construction, as this waterway is the main route to the port of Rotterdam, the world's second largest port. Therefore a barrier like the Dutch Oosterscheldekering and the Thames Barrier could not be constructed, as such a barrier would block the shipping route. The construction of the barrier started in 1991. First the dry docks were constructed on both shores and a sill was constructed at the bottom of the Nieuwe Waterweg. Then the two 22 meter high and 210 meter long steel gates were built. After this, 237 meter long steel Trusses were welded to the gates. Standing upright, these arms would be as high as the Paris Eiffel Tower , but each one weighs four times more than the Eiffel Tower. The main purpose of the arms is transmitting the immense forces, exerted on the gates while closed, to one single joint at the rear of each gate. During the closing or opening process, this ball shaped joint gives the gate the opportunity to move freely under the influences of Water , Wind and Waves . It acts like the ball shaped joint between a human’s arm and shoulder. After six years of construction the storm surge barrier was finished. At May 10 , 1997 , Queen Beatrix opened the Maeslantkering. From that moment the barrier is in full operation. The barrier is connected to a self-operating computer system which is linked to weather and sea level data. When a storm surge of 3.00 meter above normal sea level is anticipated in Rotterdam the barrier will be closed automatically. Four hours before the actual closing procedure will begin, in and out going ships are warned. Two hours before closing the traffic at the Nieuwe Waterweg will come to a stand still. Thirty minutes before closing the dry docks that bear the gates are inundated. After this the gates start to float and two so called " Locomobiles " will move both the gates towards each other. When the gap between the gates is about 1.5 meter wide, the gates are submerged to the bottom of the waterway, thus protecting the inland. Under normal weather conditions the two doors themselves are well protected in their dry docks and a 360 meter wide gap in the waterway gives ships enough space to pass without any inconvenience. The Maeslantkering is expected to be closed once every ten years due to a storm surge. With the rise in sea levels the storm surge barrier will need to close more frequently in 50 years time, namely once every five years. Until this date the barrier had never been closed due to a storm. The barrier is closed for testing once a year, usually in September or October, just before the beginning of the storm season in November. Oosterscheldekering ( 1987 ) The Oosterscheldekering ( Eastern Scheldt Storm Surge barrier), between the islands Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland , is the largest of 13 ambitious Delta Works series of dams, designed to protect a large part of The Netherlands from flooding. The construction of the Delta Works was a response to the North Sea Flood Of 1953 . The nine kilometer-long Oosterscheldekering (''kering'' meaning barrier) was initially designed, and partly built, as a closed dam, but after public protest huge sluice-gate-type doors were installed in the remaining four kilometers. These doors are normally open, but can be closed under adverse weather conditions. In this way the saltwater marine life behind the dam is preserved and fishing can continue, while the land behind the dam is safe from the water. On 4 October 1986 Queen Beatrix officially opened the dam for use. At the artificial island Neeltje-Jans , at one end of the barrier, a plaque is installed with the words: ''"Hier gaan over het tij, de wind, de maan en wij"'' ("here the tide is ruled, by the wind, the moon and us"). The Oosterscheldekering was the biggest, most difficult to build and the most expensive part of the Delta works. Work on the dam itself started in April 1976 and was completed in June 1986 , though the road over the dam was completed only in November 1987 . To facilitate the building, an artificial island Neeltje-Jans was first created in the middle of the estuary. Four ships were custom designed and built for this project:
The ships are named after various types of Shellfish . The dam is constructed out of 65 concrete pillars with 62 steel doors of 42 meters wide. The parts were constructed in a Dry Dock . The area was flooded and a small fleet of special construction ships would lift the pillars and place them on their final place. Each pillar is between 35 and 38,75 meter high and weighs 18000 Tonne s. The Oosterscheldekering is sometimes referred to as the eighth Wonder of the World, and has been declared one of the modern Seven Wonders Of The World by the American Society Of Civil Engineers . The dam was designed to last 200 years. The dam is operated by humans but if human controls fail an electronic security system acts as a backup. A Dutch Law regulates the conditions under which the dam is allowed to close. The water levels must be at least 3 meters above regular sea level before the doors can be completely shut. For testing, all doors are shut once in a while (each door once per month). Also emergency procedures are tested on prescheduled dates. Once the test is passed, the shutters are immediately opened again to create a minimum impact on Tidal Movement s and the marine ecosystem. It takes approximately one hour to close one of the doors. The dam has been closed 23 times since 1986 , due to water levels exceeding or being predicted to exceed the 3.00 meters. The cost of operation is 17 million Euro per year. NOTORIOUS FLOODS St. Lucia's flood ( 1287 ) St. Lucia's flood ('''Sint-Luciavloed''') was a massive Flood that affected the Netherlands on December 14 , 1287 (the day after St. Lucia 's Day) when a Dike s broke during a storm, killing approximately 50,000 to 80,000 people in the fifth largest flood in recorded history. Much land was lost in what is now the Waddenzee and IJsselmeer . It especially affected the north of the Netherlands, particularly Friesland . The Griend disappeared almost completely under the waves. The name Zuiderzee dates from this event, as the water had merely been a shallow inland lake when the first Dike s were being built, but rising North Sea levels created the "Southern Sea" when floods including this flood came in. St. Elizabeth's flood ( 1404 ) The St. Elizabeth's flood ('''Sint Elisabethsvloed''') of 1421 was a flooding of an area in what is now the Netherlands . It takes its name from the feast day of Saint Elisabeth Of Hungary (which was formerly November 19 ). In the night from November 18 to November 19 1421 a heavy storm near the North Sea coast caused the Dikes to break in a number of places and the lower lying Polder land was flooded. A number of villages (by tradition 72) were swallowed by the flood and were lost, causing (again by tradition) either 2,000 or 10,000 casualties. The dike breaks and floods caused large devastations in Zeeland and Holland . This flood separated the cities of Geertruidenberg and Dordrecht which previously fought against each other during the Hook And Cod (civil) Wars . Most of the area remained flooded for several decades. Reclaimed parts are the Island of Dordrecht , the Hoeksche Waard island, and north-western North Brabant (around Geertruidenberg ). Most of the Biesbosch area has been flooded since. There was no "Spring flood" like in 1953 (see North Sea Flood Of 1953 ), but the cause was that the "upper-water" from the rivers was still very high. All Saints' Flood ( 1570 ) The All Saints' Flood ('''Allerheiligenvloed''') was a disaster which happened on November 1 1570 on the Dutch coast. Affected cities include Egmond and Bergen Op Zoom and Saeftinghe . The Domeinraad council in Bergen op Zoom on 1 November 1570 recorded: "Commenting that those big storms of wind yesterday" were to the dike works of the south and north quarters "a warning given about very excessive high flood.". A long period of storm pushed the water to unprecedented heights, still higher than those at the flood disaster of 1953 . It broke innumerable Dike s on the Dutch coasts, as a result of which there were enormous floods and immense damage. The total number of dead, including in foreign countries, must have been above 20,000, but exact data is not available. Tens of thousands of people became homeless. Livestock was lost in huge numbers. Winter stocks of food and fodder were destroyed. The Allerheiligenvloed marks the origin of the Verdronken Land Van Saeftinghe . (''verdronken'' = "drowned".) In Zeeland the small islands Wulpen and Koezand and Cadzand and Stuivezand were permanently lost. Christmas Flood ( 1717 ) The Christmas Flood 1717 ('''Kerstvloed 1717''') was the result of a northwesterly storm, which hit the coast area of the Netherlands , Germany and Scandinavia on Christmas night of 1717. In total, approximately 14,000 people drowned. It was the last large flood in the north of the Netherlands. Water reached Groningen City , Zwolle , Dokkum , Amsterdam , and Haarlem . Many villages which were near the sea were devastated entirely, such as in the west of Vlieland and villages behind the sea dikes in Groningen Province . The local communities had to cope with population loss, economic decline and poverty. Absolutely no coast area between the Netherlands and Denmark were spared this. Everywhere dike breaks were followed by wide flooding of flat country. Between Tondern in Sleswig province and the East Frisisn Emden about 9,000 people drowned. In the Netherlands there were 2,500 victims. The worst affected areas were in the county of Oldenburg , around Jever , Kehdingen , and the lordship of Ostfriesland . Butjadingen lost 30% of its population. In all the affected coast areas a large quantity of cattle was lost. In Ostfriesland 900 houses were washed away completely. The damage to Dike s and Sluice s was indescribable. Survivors remained unaware of the fate of missing family members for a long time. For example, of 284 persons missing from Werdum in Ostfriesland , only 32 of them had been retrieved by 5 February 1718. The impact of this storm flood in the cold winter time - two days after this flood came hard frost and snowfall - was worsened on the night of 25 or 26 February by a new storm flood. North Sea flood in the Netherlands ( 1953 ) In the night of 31 January / 1 February 1953 many dikes in the provinces of Zeeland , Zuidholland and Noord-Brabant proved not to be resistant to the combination of Spring Tide and a northwesterly storm. On both the islands and the mainland large areas of country were completely flooded with water. Flooding of islands and Polder s killed 1,835 people and forced the Evacuation of 70,000 more. An estimated 10,000 animals drowned, and 4,500 buildings were destroyed. Floods covered 9% of Dutch Farmland , and sea water inundated 2,000 km&2 (800 mi&2) of polders. Total damage was estimated at 895 million Dutch Guilders . Many people still commemorate the dead on February 1st. Moment of Truth After the collapse of numerous seawalls and Dikes , the Schielandse Hoge Zeedijk dike along the river Hollandse IJssel was all that remained to protect three million people in the province of North Holland from the ravaging effects of the advancing storm. For a while, the dike stopped the waters from moving into Holland. A section of this dike, known as the Groenendijk, was not reinforced with stone. Despite the storm, volunteers worked to reinforce this stretch. Around 5:30 am on 1 February , the Groenendijk collapsed under the immense pressure. The seawater broke through and started moving into the South Holland province. In desperation, the Mayor of Nieuwerkerk commandeered the river ship ''de Twee Gebroeders'' (''The Two Brothers'') and ordered the owner to plug the hole in the dike by navigating the ship into it. Fearing that the ship may break through and dive into the polder, captain Arie Evegroen took a Row Boat with him. The mayor's plan turned out to be successful, as the ship lodged itself firmly into the dike, sparing both provinces.If the ship had not been loged into the dike, the disasterous death toll of 1,835 could have jumped from thousands to millions ... DROWNED VILLAGES "''Drowned village''" is the term used in the Netherlands for settlements which have been destroyed by water, either with a natural or human cause, and were not rebuild but completely destroyed or abandoned by its inhabitants.Thanks to a remarkable amount of Dutch reords reaching as far back as the Dark Ages a large amount of information about these villages is preserved today ranging from the entire story of their destruction to just their name.The last 2 villages to be ''drowned by the water'' were Schuring and '''Capelle''' in 1953. A list of drowned villages: EXTERNE LINKS
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