The 1953 North Sea flood (Dutch:Watersnoodramp) was a major flood caused by a heavy storm surge that struck the Netherlands,north-west Belgium,England and Scotland. Most sea defences facing the surge were overwhelmed,resulting in extensive flooding.
The storm and flooding occurred during the night of Saturday,31 January to the morning of 1 February,1953. A combination of a high spring tide and a severe European windstorm caused a storm tide of the North Sea. The combination of wind,high tide,and low pressure caused the sea to flood land up to 5.6 metres (18ft 4in) above mean sea level.
Realising that such infrequent events could reoccur,the Netherlands and the United Kingdom carried out large studies on strengthening of coastal defences. The Netherlands developed the Delta Works,an extensive system of dams and storm surge barriers. The UK constructed storm surge barriers on the Thames Estuary and on the Hull where it meets the Humber Estuary.
Flooding summary
At the time of the flood,20% of the land of the Netherlands was below mean sea level (subsequently with the expansion of Flevoland this proportion has increased),and the next-highest 30% sat at less than 1 metre (3.3ft) above sea level. Such land relies heavily on sea defences and was worst affected,recording 1,836 deaths and widespread damage. Most of the casualties occurred in the province of Zeeland.[1]
Twenty-eight people were killed in the North of West Flanders,Belgium.[2]
Fatalities at sea
More than 230 deaths occurred on seacraft along Northern European coasts as well as on ships in deeper waters of the North Sea. The Stranraer-Larne car ferry MV Princess Victoria sank in the North Channel east of Larne with 134 fatalities,and many fishing trawlers sank. Nine small vessels foundered in the seas around the British Isles with the loss of all hands;these included the Swedish steamer Aspo (22 crew lost),[3] the British steamer Yewvalley (12 crew lost),[4] the British trawlers Sheldon (14 crew lost),[5]Michael Griffith (13 crew lost)[6] and Guava (eleven crew lost),[7] the Dutch motor vessels Salland (nine crew lost)[8] and Westland (eight crew lost),[9] the Dutch trawler Catharina Duyvis (16 crew lost),[10] and the Belgian trawler Leopold Nera (five crew lost).[11]
Netherlands
External videos
"Eerste beelden van de stormramp" [First images of the storm] parts 1,2 &3 –Polygoon newsreel,1–2 February 1953. Collection of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. 1953 was the first time video was able to record the aftermath of a major flood.[12]
From midday on 31 January 1953,water was driven from the Northern reaches of the North Sea between Norway and Scotland by a strong North-West gale. A storm surge developed along the coast of the Netherlands,which coincided with a high spring tide,leading to many water levels on the Dutch coast on the morning of 1 February 1953 being higher than any previous recorded figures,particularly in the South-Western areas of the country.[13]
At 10:30p.m. on Saturday evening 31 January,it was low tide. But,this time,the water remained high. The strength of the hurricane had broken the tidal movement.
On the night of 1 February 1953 around 3 a.m.,many dykes in the province of Zeeland and adjacent areas of South Holland and North Brabant proved unable to resist the floodwaters. On both islands and mainland,large areas of the country were flooded.[14]
At 4 p.m. on 1 February,the flood reached a second high. The water rose even higher than during the first flood,and more dykes broke. Many people who had survived the first flood died,as the houses whose rooftops they had sheltered on collapsed due to the persistent water pressure. At that time,the government did not yet know that Schouwen-Duiveland,Goeree-Overflakkee and Tholen were almost completely under water,and no large-scale rescue operations had yet taken place.
Only on Monday 2 February were fishermen the first to sail deep into the disaster area to save hundreds of people. Rescue operations from the air were hardly possible:the Netherlands had only 1 helicopter and had to wait until other countries offered help.[14]
On Tuesday 3 February,a large flow of people and relief supplies started. Planes dropped sandbags,dinghies,boots,food and water over the disaster area. At the same time,thousands of Dutch soldiers,administrators,aid workers and volunteers arrived to carry out coordinated actions in the disaster area. Tens of thousands of residents were being evacuated from the area to shelters elsewhere in the country.[14]
Foreign helicopters and amphibious vehicles also came into action on Tuesday,but the vast majority of rescue operations had already been completed by then.
Donations and relief supplies were pouring in at the National Disaster Fund in The Hague. Other countries,including England,Sweden and Canada,sent more than 61 million guilders in relief supplies.[14]
Many people still commemorate the dead during the Herdenking Watersnoodramp on 1 February.[15]
Over the northern and western parts of the North Sea, a strong gale rages between northwest and west. The storm field is extending further. It is expected that the storm will continue for the whole night, and given this fact, this afternoon at 5.30pm the areas of Rotterdam, Willemstad and Bergen op Zoom have been warned for dangerous high water.
—"Hilversum Radio broadcast, Saturday January 31, 6.15pm", January 31, 1953 and 9/11: Living with risk (2019)[17]
Another warning was broadcast shortly before midnight on 31 January 1953, followed by the Wilhelmus, after which broadcasts ceased for the evening, as was standard in the Netherlands at the time.[18] As a result, the warnings of the KNMI did not penetrate the flood-threatened area in time. People were unable to prepare for the impending flood. The disaster struck on a Saturday night, and hence many government and emergency offices in the affected area were not staffed.
As telephone and telegraph networks were disrupted by flood damage, amateur radio operators went into the affected areas with their equipment to form a voluntary emergency radio network. These radio amateurs provided radio communications for 10 days and nights, and were the only people able to maintain contact from affected areas with the outside world.[19]
The highest death tolls were recorded on the islands of Schouwen-Duiveland and Goeree-Overflakkee. 305 people drowned in the village of Oude-Tonge. 20-year-old Jos de Boet from Oude-Tonge lost 42 family members in the disaster.[1] 200,000 animals died, 3,500 houses and farms were lost in the flood, and another 43,000 were severely damaged.[20][21]
Afterwards, the government formed the Delta Commission to study the causes and effects of the floods. They estimated that flooding killed 1,835 people and forced the emergency evacuation of 70,000 more. Floods covered 9% of Dutch farmland, and sea water flooded 1,365km2 (527sqmi) of land. An estimated 30,000 animals drowned, and 47,300 buildings were damaged, of which 10,000 had to be demolished (or were swept away). The total damage is estimated at 1 billion Dutch guilders.
Een dubbeltje op zijn kant" ("A dubbeltje (small coin) on its edge", meaning "A narrow escape"), a sculpture by Roel Bendijk of de Twee Gebroeders in the Groenedijk
Near flooding of other parts
The Schielands Hoge Zeedijk (Schielands High Seadyke) along the river Hollandse IJssel was all that protected three million people in the provinces of North and South Holland from flooding. A section of this dyke, known as the Groenendijk, was not reinforced with stone revetments. The water level was just below the crest and the seaward slope was weak.
Volunteers worked to reinforce this stretch. However, the Groenendijk began to collapse under the pressure around 5:30 am on 1 February. Seawater flooded into the deep polder. 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 dyke by navigating the ship into it. Fearing that the ship might break through into the polder, Captain Arie Evegroen took a row boat with him. The mayor's plan was successful, as the ship was lodged firmly into the dyke, reinforcing it against failure and saving many lives.
The Afsluitdijk across the entrance of the Zuiderzee was said to have paid for its construction cost in that one night, by preventing destructive flooding around the three great meers that used to be the Zuiderzee.
Reaction
Several neighbouring countries sent soldiers to assist in searching for bodies and rescuing people. The United States Army sent helicopters from Germany to rescue people from rooftops. Queen Juliana and Princess Beatrix visited the flooded area only a few days after. A large aid program, the National Relief Fund, was launched, and soldiers raised funds by selling pea-soup door to door. Internationally, 100,000 commemorative postcards, featuring an illustration by Eppo Doeve, were sold.[12] A national donation program was started and there was a large amount of international aid. The Red Cross was overwhelmed by contributions, and diverted some of the funds to assist residents of Third World countries.
It was found that the flooding could have been 4 feet (1.2m) higher; the Rijkswaterstaat's plan concerning the protection and strengthening of the dikes was accepted. [16] As a result, authorization was granted for the Delta Works, an elaborate project to enable emergency closing of the mouths of most estuaries, to prevent flood surges upriver.
The North Sea flood of 1953 was the worst flood of the 20th century in England and Scotland. Over 1,600km (990mi) of coastline was damaged,[22] and sea walls were breached in 1,200 places,[23] inundating 160,000 acres (65,000ha; 250sqmi).[22] Flooding forced over 30,000 people from their homes,[22][23] and 24,000 properties were greatly damaged.[24][23] The damage is estimated as £50 million at 1953 prices, approximately £1.2 billion at 2013 prices.[22]
Probably the most devastating storm to affect Scotland for 500 years, the surge crossed between Orkney and Shetland. The storm generated coastal and inland hazards, including flooding, erosion, destruction of coastal defences, and widespread wind damage. Damage occurred throughout the country, with 19 fatalities reported.[25] The fishing village of Crovie, Banffshire, built on a narrow strip of land along the Moray Firth, was abandoned by many, as large structures were swept into the sea.
The surge raced down the east coast into the mid-to-southern North Sea, where it was amplified by shallower waters.
In Lincolnshire, flooding occurred from Mablethorpe to Skegness, reaching 3 kilometres (2 miles) inland. Police Officers Charles Lewis and Leonard Deptford received George Medals for their part in rescue work. Lewis leapt from a police station upper window to save an elderly couple being swept away in 3 feet (1m) of floodwater, carrying them to a house across the road to safety, then continuing rescue work for hours until he found a working telephone to call for help. Deptford was off-duty at his son's party when the wall of water hit. He realised that elderly people were vulnerable as the sea wall was breached and he dragged and carried many to safety. At one house he found a bedridden elderly couple with their middle-aged daughter; in the waist-high floodwater, he lashed together oil cans to make a raft, to which he tied the couple and pulled them to safety. He carried on into daylight, his last rescue being a dog.[29]
In south-west Essex, water overspilled the Royal Docks into Silvertown, where it drained into the sewers but flooded back in Canning Town and Tidal Basin. William Hayward, a night watchman at William Ritchie & Son, died of exposure to gas from a damaged pipe – the only fatality in London. Almost 200 people were homeless and took refuge at Canning Town Public Hall.[33] The village of Creekmouth on Barking Creek, the mouth of the Roding, was wholly flooded by the sea surge and later demolished. Residents were relocated elsewhere in Barking.[34]
The total death toll on land in the UK is estimated at 307. The total death toll at sea for the UK, including the 135 lost in the sinking of MVPrincess Victoria, is estimated at 224.[35]
Belgium
The coastal defences of Flanders were severely damaged. Near Ostend, Knokke and Antwerp, heavy damage was done to the sea defence with local breaches. Twenty-eight people died.
Responses
After the 1953 flood, governments realised that similar infrequent but devastating events were possible in the future. In the Netherlands the government conceived and constructed an ambitious flood defence system beginning in the 1960s. Called the Delta Works (Dutch: Deltawerken), it is designed to protect the estuaries of the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt. The system was completed in 1998, with completion of the storm surge barrier Maeslantkering in the Nieuwe Waterweg, near Rotterdam.
In the UK, the Permanent Secretary to the Home Office, Sir Frank Newsam, coordinated the immediate efforts to defend homes, save lives and recover after the floods. After the flooding, the government made major investments in new sea defences. The Thames Barrier programme was started to secure Central London against a future storm surge; the Barrier was officially opened on 8 May 1984. A range of flood defence measures were initiated around the UK coast.
Commemoration
Blue plaque in Leigh-on-Sea commemorating the flood
In 2013 a service was held at Chelmsford Cathedral to mark the 60th anniversary of the Great Flood, attended by Anne, Princess Royal. Acts of remembrance were also held in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.[36]
A blue plaque marking the level of the flood water was installed by the Leigh Society on the wall of the Heritage Centre in Leigh-on-Sea to commemorate the flooding there.[37]
In 2011 58 years after the flood, a service of remembrance was held outside the library on Canvey Island in Essex to unveil a plaque commemorating the 58 people who lost their lives on the island.[39]
The Watersnoodmuseum or Flood Museum in Ouwerkerk, Netherlands opened in 2001 as the "National Knowledge and Remembrance Centre for the Floods of 1953".
Books, films and music
The composition Requiem Aeternam 1953 by Douwe Eisenga was written as a commemoration of the flood.
The Dutch public broadcasting foundation has made numerous documentaries about the North Sea Flood. Two have been adapted as English versions: The Greatest Storm and 1953, the Year of the Beast.
In 2018 a Dutch documentary titled Stormvloed in De Schelphoek ("Storm surge in the Schelphoek") was released.
The book The Little Ark by Jan de Hartog, published in 1953, depicted the flood. It was adapted as a film by the same name in 1972.
The short story "The Netherlands Lives with Water",[40] by Jim Shepard, contains a passage describing the event.[41]
The 1976 book Oosterschelde, windkracht 10, by Jan Terlouw is the story of the flood in Zeeland, Netherlands. The first part describes the storm, while the second part describes the later conflicts about constructing the Delta Works.[42]
Penelope Fitzgerald, The Bookshop (1978), set in Suffolk in 1959, makes many references back to the 1953 flooding.
The flood and its effect upon the coastal town of Lowestoft is the subject matter of a painting by British artist Mark Burrell.
'The Great Tide' by Hilda Grieve (published 1959) gives a detailed description of every aspect of the flood in Essex. The author was an experienced historian, commissioned by the Essex County Council.
The Delta Works is a series of construction projects in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta from the sea. Constructed between 1954 and 1997, the works consist of dams, sluices, locks, dykes, levees, and storm surge barriers located in the provinces of South Holland and Zeeland.
The Eastern Scheldt is a former estuary in the province of Zeeland, Netherlands, between Schouwen-Duiveland and Tholen on the north and Noord-Beveland and Zuid-Beveland on the south. It also features the largest national park in the Netherlands, founded in 2002.
The Thames Barrier is a retractable barrier system built to protect the floodplain of most of Greater London from exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the North Sea. It has been operational since 1982. When needed, it is closed (raised) during high tide; at low tide, it can be opened to restore the river's flow towards the sea. Built about 2 miles east of the Isle of Dogs, its northern bank is in Silvertown in the London Borough of Newham and its southern bank is in the New Charlton area of the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The Afsluitdijk is a major dam and causeway in the Netherlands. It was constructed between 1927 and 1932 and runs from Den Oever in North Holland province to the village of Zurich in Friesland province, over a length of 32 kilometres (20 mi) and a width of 90 metres (300 ft), at an initial height above Amsterdam Ordnance Datum of between 6.7 metres (22 ft) along the section at Friesland, and 7.4 metres (24 ft) where it crosses the deep channel of the Vlieter. The height at the greater sea depths west of Friesland was required to be a minimum of 7 metres everywhere when originally constructed.
Storm tides of the North Sea are coastal floods associated with extratropical cyclones crossing over the North Sea, the severity of which is affected by the shallowness of the sea and the orientation of the shoreline relative to the storm's path, as well as the timing of tides. The water level can rise to more than 5 metres (17 ft) above the normal tide as a result of storm tides.
A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the normal tidal level, and does not include waves.
The All Saints' Flood of 1570 occurred on November 1–2, 1570 in the Spanish Netherlands, and is considered the worst North Sea flood disaster before the 20th century. It flooded the entire coast of the Netherlands and East Frisia. The effects were felt from Calais in Flanders to Jutland and even Norway. Even though the alleged casualty figures were mostly based on rough estimates and should be viewed with skepticism, up to 25,000 deaths can be assumed.
The St. Elizabeth's flood of 1421 was a flooding of the Grote Hollandse Waard, an area in what is now the Netherlands. It takes its name from the feast day of Saint Elisabeth of Hungary which was formerly 19 November. It ranks 20th on the list of worst floods in history. During the night of 18/19 November 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 were swallowed by the flood and were lost, causing between 2,000 and 10,000 casualties. The dike breaks and floods caused widespread devastation in Zeeland and Holland.
Numansdorp is a town and former municipality in the province South Holland in the Netherlands and is located on the island Hoeksche Waard near the Hollands Diep. On 1 January 1984, the municipalities Numansdorp and Klaaswaal were merged into one municipality called Cromstrijen. Cromstrijen was merged into the new municipality Hoeksche Waard in January 2019.
The Oosterscheldekering, between the islands Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland, is the largest of the Delta Works, a series of dams and storm surge barriers, designed to protect the Netherlands from flooding from the North Sea. The construction of the Delta Works was a response to the widespread damage and loss of life in the North Sea flood of 1953.
A levee breach or levee failure is a situation where a levee fails or is intentionally breached, causing the previously contained water to flood the land behind the levee.
St. Lucia's flood (Sint-Luciavloed) was a storm tide that affected the Netherlands and Northern Germany on 13/14 December 1287 (OS), St. Lucia Day and the day after, killing approximately 50,000 to 80,000 people in one of the largest floods in recorded history. A low-pressure system mixed with a high tide caused the North Sea to rise over the seawalls and dikes, causing a large portion of the Netherlands and Northern Germany to be flooded.
Cyclone Tilo was a European windstorm which affected northern and western Europe in early November 2007. Combining with the remnants of Hurricane Noel, Tilo's storm surge led to the North Sea flood of 2007, affecting the coastlines of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Belgium, starting on the night of 8–9 November 2007.
The February flood of 1825, also known in Germany as the Great Hallig Flood, was a devastating flood that occurred from 3 to 5 February 1825 on the North Sea coast in which about 800 people were drowned.
The 1872 Baltic Sea flood, often referred to as a storm flood, ravaged the Baltic Sea coast from Denmark to Pomerania, also affecting Sweden, during the night between 12 and 13 November 1872 and was, until then, the worst storm surge in the Baltic. The highest recorded peak water level was about 3.3 m above sea level (NN).
The Gale of January 1976, widely known as the "Capella" storm in Germany and the Ruisbroek flood in Belgium, was one in a series of extratropical cyclones and storm surges, which occurred over January 1976. The gale of 2–5 January 1976 resulted in severe wind damage across western and central Europe and coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts. At the time, this was the most severe storm of the century over the British Isles. Total fatalities reached 82 across Europe, although a figure of 100 is given by the World Meteorological Organization. Of these 24 were reported in Britain and 4 in Ireland. Overall losses of US$1.3 billion were incurred, with insured losses standing at US$500 million (1976).
The North Sea flood of 1978 was a storm surge which occurred over 11–12 January causing extensive coastal flooding and considerable damage on the east coast of England between the Humber and Kent. Higher water levels were reached than during the devastating North Sea flood of 1953 from North Shields to King's Lynn, but values were lower towards the Thames. Locally severe flooding occurred in Lincolnshire, The Wash, north Norfolk and Kent. Improvements in flood protection following the devastating flood of 1953 meant that the catastrophic losses seen during that storm were not repeated. The storm caused severe damage to many piers along the east coast of England.
Cyclone Xaver, also known as the North Sea flood or tidal surge of 2013, was a winter storm that affected northern Europe. Force 12 winds and heavy snowfall were predicted along the storm's path, and there were warnings of a significant risk of storm surge leading to coastal flooding along the coasts of the North and Irish Seas.
Johan van Veen was a Dutch hydraulic engineer. He is considered the father of the Delta Works.
Pieter Jacobus (P.J.) Wemelsfelder was a Dutch hydraulic engineer who made significant contributions to the field of hydrometry in the Netherlands, and in hydraulic engineering internationally. In addition to his involvement in the design and planning of the Delta Works, he published widely and is notable for the first use of probability theory in the design of flood levels.
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