A menacing wall of water

Fifty years ago, a storm surge and spring flood tide caused water to pour over the dikes in south-western The Netherlands, killing 1,795 people.

The people in the Dutch province Zeeland (Sealand) have a reputation for being a stoical, introverted lot: "You don't complain, you carry your burden." But after five decades, people from the older generation seem ready to lift one particular burden from their souls. They are willing to talk openly about their personal experiences during the 'watersnoodramp', which is the Dutch name for the flood disaster that robbed many of them of their homes, livelihood, and loved ones.

Watersnoodramp. Ask an average Dutchman which image springs to mind after hearing that word and chances are he'll paint a forbidding picture of a drowned landscape, eerily silent. Water as far as the eye can see, here and there people seeking refuge on the rooftops of their houses. If they're lucky they'll be rescued by ship or helicopter before the second water surge strikes.

That image is deeply engraved in the Dutch collective mind. Yet the backdrop of this drama seems strange to us now. In the last couple of weeks, many journalists have written retrospectives, marvelling at how radically different Dutch society was back then. For instance, reporters didn't go around asking awkward questions about %who%s to blame", which nowadays accompanies every calamity - and yet the scale of the Watersnoodramp dwarfs every disaster that has happened in the Netherlands since, the El Al plane crash included. Authorities were to be trusted and treated with respect, period.

The government had indeed been aware that many % some poorly maintained - dikes could collapse in cases of extremely high water. They'd even considered closing off the estuary; but before plans were put on the table, the 'fist of God' struck, in the form of a meteorological depression from Scotland, backed by a strong northwest wind. It took an unusual path - southwards - and the depression kept following the flood it created. As a result, a gigantic, menacing wall of water stormed unsuspecting Zeeland, which was fast asleep. Weather forecasters realised too late the fatal path the storm had taken, and during the night the radio wasn't able to broadcast warnings, because, at the time, Dutch radio didn't transmit from midnight to 8 a.m.

3,000 homes and 300 farms were destroyed. 200,000 hectares flooded. 1,795 people died. More than 47,000 head of cattle drowned. Yet, the often deeply religious people of Zeeland took it all in their stride % 'what the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh.' The most fervent Protestant believers saw it as the wrath of the Almighty. But the consequences of the disaster would push Zeeland into the modern age. The Delta works (in which TU Delft played a large role) were a technological tour de force, preventing the disaster from ever happening again without sacrificing all the estuary's ecosystems. It took hydraulic engineers nearly 50 years to complete this project.

All's well that ends well? Don't be mistaken: deep in their hearts, the Dutch still dread the wild force of the sea. When nature strikes again, pessimists predict, a large part of the country will be swallowed by the sea and centrally located Amersfoort will have to be renamed 'Amersfoort-by-the-sea'. You can't say you didn't see it coming.