Dutch Ocean Barrier

Conquering their Land

Let me tell you a story about the history of the Netherlands. You see the Netherlands had even less back in the day. Before they had dikes, about 40% of their land was underwater. What's even worse is that a third of the Netherlands is below sea level. This means that even the normal tides from the North Sea, which covers most of the Netherlands coastline, has the capability of creating havoc in almost half of the country. In the earlier days, there were no dams or other protection structures across the North Sea, due to which the country used to remain in continuous threat of storms and high tides. Out of all the coastal areas, the Zuider Zee and the triangular area formed by the Rhine and Meuse rivers in the southwestern part of the country were the two main areas that were highly vulnerable. Now they reclaimed so much land that they raised the total dry land area by 17%. Which is very impressive for a small nation. Right now the Netherlands have 73% of their total area as dry land mass.  On December 14 1287, the dams and dikes failed and that resulted in a flood devastating the country. This has spawned a project called the North Sea Protection Works, or also called Delta Works, designed to protect the Netherlands from floods and general sea waves from flooding the reclaimed land(Zuiderzee).  Here are some of my favorite structures of the Delta Works:

Maeslantkering

Maeslantkering is a movable storm surge barrier spanning the New Waterway (Nieuwe Waterweg), a canal that connects the river Rhine to the North Sea. The Maeslantkering acts as a final line of defense for Rotterdam against high levels of incoming seawater. It has a set of two swinging doors almost as long as the Eiffel tower and weighs about four times as much. It is the only storm surge barrier in the world with such large moveable parts. It is one of largest moving structures on Earth, and the most impressive project of Delta Works.

Oosterscheldekering

The Oosterscheldekering (in English: Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier) is another storm surge barrier located between the islands Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland. It is the largest of the 13 Delta Works constructions, the most expensive and the most difficult to build. The nine-kilometre-long Oosterscheldekering has huge sluice-gate-type doors were installed in the remaining four kilometers. These doors are normally open, but can be closed under adverse weather conditions. In this way, the saltwater marine life behind the dam is preserved and fishing can continue, while the land behind the dam is safe from the water.