What no country in the world has done: how the Netherlands protects itself from the sea

Most of the territory of the Netherlands is located below sea level, for this reason the inhabitants of this region of Europe were engaged in drainage of the territory back in the Middle Ages. It is not by chance that there are so many windmills in this country: all of them were built in order to pump out sea water from drained lands. Numerous canals, locks and dams, built by tireless inhabitants of the Netherlands, served one single purpose - to drain as much land as possible suitable for living and farming.

But in the XX century, the Netherlands decided to protect themselves more thoroughly. In the 1920s, the construction of the Aflsloydake grand dam began, which was completed in 1932. A 30-kilometer mound separated the shallow Zuidersee Bay from the North Sea, turning it into Lake IJsselmeer. The construction of this protective dam saved many lives during the disastrous flood of 1953. Despite the fact that a terrible gale, which caused a rise in water level by more than 5 meters, nevertheless provoked a flood and led to human casualties, experts believe that Afslejtdeyk dam saved more than one thousand lives. If it weren’t, the consequences would be much more sad.

But there remained one more vulnerable spot in the country where floods often occurred - the Rhine Delta. Here, as well as in the Maas and Scheldt deltas, it was decided to build several dams and protective structures that would block the sea water from entering the river valley during storms. From the 50s to the end of the 90s, a large-scale project called "Delta" was implemented here, and some of its structures are still being modernized. In total, over 16 thousand kilometers of dams and storm barriers of various designs were built.

The whole history of the Netherlands is a continuous struggle for survival. No other country in the world has implemented so many large-scale projects to protect its territory from floods caused by the onslaught of the sea. But the fight against the ruthless North Sea in the last century has been exacerbated by global warming and rising sea levels. Despite the fact that the Netherlands has already done a lot to protect its country from floods, it is too early to stop. Due to the constant rise in sea level, there is a risk that existing protective structures in the next 50 years will not be enough, so engineers are looking for new ways to solve the problem.