In the midst of flooding in many southern Chinese provinces, talk about the great floods that occurred in the Netherlands in 1953.
The Dutch, known as a people who "live below sea level", have made a lot of achievements in water conservancy. However, after all, man cannot overcome the heavens, nature still tests the Netherlands again and again, and human beings can only resist again and again.
Historically, the Netherlands has experienced frequent floods, from the sea and from the great rivers. Looking through the data, there are dozens of great floods, of which the two great floods of the Middle Ages in 1404 and 1421 can be called major disasters. The Great Flood of 1421, also known as the "Second St. Elizabeth Flood" (Sint Elisabethsvloed), killed more than 10,000 people in the Netherlands.
Now, not far from us, is the Great Dutch Flood of 1953.
The flood was one of the largest in Dutch history, and even the largest since the Third Allerheiligenvloeden in 1570.
Didn't the Dutch economy recover almost as much as it did after the war in 1953? And wasn't the afsluitdijk already built in 1933? However, the barrage dam is only in the north of the Netherlands, and the Dutch coastline is so long, and this flood has caused great damage in places such as the provinces of South Holland and Zeeland. Because the authorities already knew before World War II that the in these two provinces were actually not so reliable.
Combining many factors, the catastrophe of the 1953 flood was not only a natural disaster, but also a man-made disaster.
Strictly speaking, the flood occurred not only in the Netherlands, but also in Britain, Belgium and Germany.
In the Netherlands, the official death toll was 1836, in the UK it was 307 and at sea it was 224, including 133 at the time of the UK ferry crash and 28 in Belgium.
The flooding lasted only two days, from Saturday, January 31, 1953 to Sunday, February 1, and the next day the death toll in the Netherlands was higher than the first. Some people are trapped in the water for 10 days.
What was the cause of this flood and its disaster?
The disaster, caused by a combination of storm-induced sea tides and spring tides, raised the water level in the southern North Sea of Europe to extremely high at that time.
On the afternoon of Saturday, January 31, 1953, the wind was already very strong. The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Observatory KNMI warned on the radio of temporary heavy rainstorms, which could lead to dangerously high water levels.
In the afternoon, it is the time when the tide is at a low tide, and it is estimated that the tide will reach its peak at 4 a.m. As the wind grew stronger and gradually developed into a northwesterly wind, the waves on the sea became larger and larger, and more and more ships were in trouble.
The expected low tide did not occur, the water had reached as high as it did at the high tide, and the tide had not yet arrived. Therefore, it is estimated that this will cause the water level to rise higher during the tide.
So, imagine what happens when a hurricane carries a high water level.
Can't the government give notice?
However, at that time, most of the Netherlands in the south was inhabited by poor and poor people, many of whom did not have radios or even telephones in their homes.
Won't house-to-house notifications be adopted?
At that time, there was a fee to order meteorological services, and some regional water conservancy authorities did not spend money to order such services, which they did not see as much use. Therefore, even if the meteorological department has issued a warning of high winds, the warning will not be transmitted, and the local people are only estimating the power of nature by feeling. The flood, this natural wreaking havoc, is gradually approaching. Perhaps the people who live by the sea are accustomed to the scene of dark clouds rolling and fierce winds and waves, and they do not think so.
Although danger was looming, people slept peacefully.
Outside, the wind has increased to level 10, and the tide is gradually rising.
Beginning at 4 a.m. the next day, the tide rose to its highest peak and the winds reached its highest strength, and disaster struck, beginning with a breach of the levee, which was breached everywhere between 4 a.m. and 6 p.m. Floods then flowed so quickly into people's settlements that some villages had water two to three metres deep within half an hour.
People woke up from their slumber and fled in cars, but on the seawall they were swept into the sea by hurricanes and tides; more families fled to the attic with their young children and the elderly; young people climbed trees and nestled on the roof. In this way, he trembled until dawn.
When I woke up, the whole Netherlands shook, the whole world shook.
The disaster relief work in the Netherlands was always slow, which was also related to the lack of capacity at that time. At that time, the hard-hit areas of Zeeland and South Holland mainly relied on the self-help of the population.
The KNRM rescue vessel, a coastal rescue team stationed in several areas, provided immediate assistance during the day on February 1. Many of the boat crews, including the first responders, came from fishing boats outside the disaster area, and private owners of the vessels also provided rescue services.
But it was even worse when the second wave arrived on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 1. Communications are disrupted, roads are blocked, and as the levees have been destroyed, the water level will rise even higher. After the first flood, the foundations of many houses that were still standing were softened and collapsed. As a result, the second wave caused more casualties.
The hardest-hit areas are Duiveland and the south of Overflakkee, where 40 percent of villagers have lost their lives.
The storm won't pass until February 3.
It wasn't until 2 February that 30 tugboats departed from Maasbracht for Zeeland. On that day, the Dutch armed forces also deployed their only helicopter to participate in the disaster relief. Soon, Belgian Airlines Sabena helicopters also provided assistance to rescue people still trapped in the water.
After the disaster, some ordinary Dutch became heroes. Some tied to their waists with ropes in cold water and swam in the water for hours to save lives; others set up high ground with waste that could not be washed away by the water to save their compatriots; while everyone on board was looking for survivors, such as the Seafaring Society in Dusburg, which saved 266 people in a day; amateur radio stations also played an important role in keeping in touch with rescuers so that they could better carry out their work; and some rented helicopters that directly rescued people from their roofs.
A catastrophe with terrible consequences
The disaster resulted in the deaths of 1836 people in the Netherlands. In addition, the flood in the Netherlands caused severe damage to livestock, houses, buildings and infrastructure, with some 100,000 people losing their homes and property, thousands of livestock and animals drowning, 4,500 houses and buildings destroyed and 200,000 hectares of land inundated.
The land soaked by the sea could no longer grow crops for several years, especially the people of the Dutch province of Zeeland, which remained in poverty for years to come.
After the flood, the sky was in ruins.
Then there's the aftermath.
However, the Dutch people's aftermath charity relief is commendable. Afterwards, the whole of the Netherlands was collecting money and money for the victims of the floods, and many other cities in the Netherlands, especially to finance some flooded cities, donated money and livestock, etc.
However, the disaster led to the birth of coastal defense systems such as the Netherlands and Britain. The most famous is the Delta Project in the Netherlands. The disaster of 1953 led to swift and drastic measures, which were the direct cause of the Deltawerken project.
As mentioned above, in many parts of the Netherlands, especially in deltas, are too low and too weak. The Dutch National Water Authority (Rijkswaterstaat) realized this as early as the 1920s and was making plans to manage the inland waterways by building new structures.
Afsluitdijk, completed in 1932, was an important first step in this direction.
However, it was only after the economic crisis and after the war that the first water works were produced in the southwestern Netherlands: Botlek, Brielse Maas in 1950, and Braakman in 1952.
However, coastal protection was not a priority for the Dutch government at that time. In 1950, the already limited budget was again constrained, and post-war economic reconstruction was given priority.
The flood was once named after the Crown Prince
Afterwards, the then Queen of the Netherlands, Juliana, her husband Prince Bernhard, Crown Prince Beatrix and her mother, Princess William Minna, visited the disaster area and comforted the victims.
On 8 February 1953, the Netherlands held a National Day of Mourning, and Queen Juliana spoke on the radio.
By the way, the 1953 flood was originally also known as the "Sint Ignatius Flood." Named after St. Ignatius, it is named after the Great Flood in the Roman Catholic tradition with the Calendar of the Saints, including the Sint Elisabethsvloeden of 1404, 1421 and 1424, and the Allerheiligenvloeden of 1532 and 1570. However, the name "Flood of St. Ignatius" was not widely used.
Protestants at first preferred to say "Beatrix Flood" because it occurred the day after Princess Beatrix's 15th birthday. However, naming a disaster in the name of a member of the royal family does not seem appropriate, and although it is not a violation of the rules of heaven in the Netherlands, it is not used by many people.
Later, people increasingly talked about the "floods of 1953", or simply "floods" and "February floods".
Now, in all parts of the provinces of South Holland and Zeeland, statues and monuments are found commemorating the once-in-a-century flood. Since then, the Netherlands said that although there have been floods, such a major natural disaster has not happened so far, and the Dutch still live safely "below sea level".
(Huang Jinhong)