Five Brothers and a War

Geography—Rivers and Water

Between 1820 and 1850, the responsibility for dyke construction and maintenance was given to scientifically- and militarily-trained engineers, thereby formalizing the previous ad hoc engineering that had existed up to that point. But the flooding continued, albeit now at a far slower pace. The slowdown was due to incremental construction of sea defenses which had been added over the centuries. There were two floods in the 20 th Century. The first occurred on January 13-14, 1916 where dozens of dyke breaches caused serious floods in the area of the Zuiderzee (“Southern Sea”). This body of water was by now called the IJselmeer , after a monumental dyke was constructed to enclose this bay of the sea, thereby converting it into a freshwater lake. The last major flood occurred on the evening of January 31/February 1, 1953 when more than 2,500 people lost their lives. The flooding was caused by a combination of high tides and an extremely strong storm hitting Holland from the North Sea. The storm also affected Britain and Belgium.

holland

All in all, it is not a surprise that the Dutch became the world’s experts in flood management.

Five Brothers and a War

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