Today we woke up around 8:00 to head to the Watersnoodmuseum, which is a museum all about the flood in 1953. According to the exhibits, a large storm hit The Netherlands on February 1, 1953. This storm surge caused a major flood that killed almost 2000 people. Though there were dykes in place to protect against flooding, they were not nearly high or strong enough to protect against the level 10 and 11 winds that were attacking them. Because of this, when the water followed, the dykes fell and the flooding rushed in.

After the museum, we then headed to Deltaworks, where we learned a bit more about the measures taken after the flood to prevent another one from happening again. Zeeland, the area where the flood occurred, contains multiple deltas coming in from the North Sea. Because of this, flooding was a major issue in these areas. After the flood, multiple dams were built, both connecting the islands as well as blocking the water from the sea. One issue when building the dams, however, was the fact that fishing was a major source of income for many residents in the region. Blocking off the water from these islands would prevent them from being able to maintain their businesses. In order to account for this issue, engineers developed an open dam design, where a bridge connecting the islands has gated sections. Usually, the gates remain raised and open in order to let the water from the seas into the deltas, but when major storms are expected, the gates are lowered and the land is blocked off from the sea. According to our tour guide, the gates have been lowered a total of 33 times.

After the tour, we went on yet another boat ride. Unfortunately, because we have not had food since 8:00 and it was now 2:00, a few of us started to become slightly nauseous from the rocking. Also, because many of us underestimated the effect the wind would have on the temperature and were unaware of the fact that we’d be going on a boat ride, we were unprepared for the chilly weather. Though today was interesting, I don’t really see it having much relevance to bioengineering.