We spent most of today at the Deltaworks Park. The Deltaworks are a group of dams, locks, and dikes designed to control flooding. As I mentioned in a previous post, a lot of the Netherlands are actually at altitudes below sea level, and there was an absolutely devastating flood in 1953 that took over 1,800 lives. Following that flood, the Deltaworks were implemented to prevent future floods.
One of their largest projects is the Oosterscheldekering, which we got to see today. This dam separates the North Sea from the Oosterschelde Sea, and it has large doors that allow fish and other sea creatures to pass through while weather is mild. The doors are closed whenever winds pick up during high tide, stopping large amounts of water from passing into the the Oosterdelde and flooding the land around it. This project was completed in 1986 and is expected to effectively protect the southwestern region of the Netherlands for 200 years. After learning about all of the heartbreak that the flood of 1953 caused, it was nice to know that the Dutch living in this region should not have to experience something so terrible again anytime soon.
After we got to see the dam, we went inside the museum portion of the Deltaworks Park to do the “Delta Experience.” This experience was a theater that actually immersed us in the story of a young boy who survived the flood. It started in a room designed to replicate his home where he was when the flood began. We watched as the power went out before the windows broke. Unfortunately, the boy’s parents were not inside the house when the worst of the storm hit. When we walked into a second theater, we got a view of his house’s exterior and watched as it flooded quickly, almost trapping the boy in his house. Luckily, his parents were standing outside, waiting for him from across the yard. Even more fortunately, a fallen wall of their house created a bridge for him to cross his flooded yard. The boy made it to his parents, and the 3 of them survived the tragedy! After the video ended, we got to see pictures of the boy whose story we had just witnessed. Because this experience was so immersive, it was easy to imagine how terrifying and upsetting the flood was, even for a survivor. I was scared, and I was only experiencing a replica of the event. Although this family was lucky enough to have survived the flood, many weren’t so fortunate. It made me very sad to imagine how many other stories other perspectives of this flood existed but could never be told.
After the “Delta Experience,” we had some lunch before moving outside to explore the rest of the park. There was actually a small aquarium featuring seals, sea lions, a lobster, and some small sharks. All of the enclosures were fairly small, however, so that was disturbing to me. It definitely made me admire the Deltaworks company less overall.
The park also had a little water park. It had little miniature dams to show kids how they work. That part reminded me a lot of the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, which I liked (and like) a lot as a kid! In that same area, I went on a small waterslide, which was unexpected but really fun.
To finish the day at Deltaworks, we got on a ship to see the Oosterschelde Sea. That was probably my favorite part of the day; it was so beautiful! The ocean was incredibly clear and blue-green, something you don’t get to see on my usual beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In conclusion, I really enjoyed this site visit. I feel like I learned a lot more about flood control in the Netherlands than I ever expected to, which is kind of cool!
