netherlands 1953 flood case study

CLIMATE CHANGE AND DISASTER PLANNING: Case Study of The Netherlands , Flood Disaster and Water Management Policies

JENNIFER J. LEE Masters Candidate Spring 2007

NETWORK OF EUROPEAN AND U.S. REGIONAL AND URBAN STUDIES (N.E.U.R.U.S.)

University of California, Irvine University of Groningen

Acknowledgements

I owe my gratitude to the following people who has played a significant role in making this learning process and this research journey possible.

∑ Scott Bollens (University of California, Irvine)

∑ Johan Woltjer (University of Groningen)

∑ P.J.M. Van Steen (University of Groningen)

∑ Richard Matthew (University of California, Irvine)

∑ Faculty and Fellows of the Network for European and U.S. Urban and Regional Studies (N.E.U.R.U.S.)

∑ Fareeha Kibriya

∑ Amber Y. Sakai

∑ Michael DeLorenzo

∑ KyuSik Lee & YoungSook Lee and Jason J. Lee

To the collaboration and support of all these individuals I was able to experience the most valuable learning experience and developed a passion that has shape the direction of my future goals and aspirations. Thank You!

Table of Contents

Section Page INTRODUCTION ...... 3

1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION: THE NETHERLANDS...... 4 1.1. The Netherlands ...... 4 1.2. The Flood Disaster of 1953, 1993 and 1995...... 6 1.3. Summary...... 10

2 IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE...... 11 2.1. Climate Change and The Netherlands ...... 11 2.1.1. Greenhouse Effects and Global Warming...... 11 2.1.2. Thermohaline Circulation ...... 12 2.1.3. Melting Ice ...... 13 2.1.4. Sea Level Change ...... 14 2.1.5. Storms...... 15

3 FLOOD DISASTER AND WATER MANAGEMENT POLICIES...... 19 3.1. Shift in Policy...... 19 3.2. Techonology Focused Policy...... 20 3.3. Room for Water Policy...... 22 3.4. Mixed Land Use Policy...... 24 3.5. Disaster Response Policy...... 26 3.6. Organization Structure Policy...... 27 3.7. Public Participation Policy...... 29 3.8. Three Step Rule Policy...... 31 3.9. Summary...... 32

4 RECOMMENDATIONS...... 34

5 REFERENCES...... 37

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List of Figures

Figure Page Figure 1: Above and Below Sea Level Areas...... 4 Figure 2: Floodable Land Without Flood Defenses...... 4 Figure 3: Netherlands Cities Below and Above Sea Level ...... 5 Figure 4: Storm Surge of North Sea Flood of 1953...... 6 Figure 5: Breach in Embarkments...... 6 Figure 6: Pictures from North Sea Flood 1953 ...... 7 Figure 7: Pictures from North Sea Flood 1953 ...... 7 Figure 8: Delta Works Projects...... 8 Figure 9: Delta Works Projects...... 8 Figure 10: Greenhouse Gas Effect Model ...... 11 Figure 11: Temperature Changes Simulated in a Climate Change Experiment...... 12 Figure 12: Sea Level Rise Through Satellite Observations ...... 14 Figure 13: Precipitation Changes Simulated in a Climate Change Experiment ...... 16 Figure 14: The River Catchment Areas...... 17 Figure 15: Flood Prone Areas...... 17 Figure 16: Ground Level Change in The Netherlands ...... 21 Figure 17: Overview of Possible Measures in Room for Water Policy...... 22 Figure 18: Room for Water Policy...... 22 Figure 19: Type of Alternative Housing...... 25 Figure 20: Example of Netherlands Lives with Water Campaign Cartoon ...... 30 Figure 21: Three Step Policy for Retaining Water ...... 31

Page ii • Jennifer J. Lee NEURUS Research Introduction

Different levels of problem and devastation will result in increased susceptibility in coastal areas due to the impacts of climate change. According to the IPCC Working Group I Report released on February 2007, alarming scientific evidence reveal that climate change is a serious factor contributing to flood disasters that can have devastating impact to the coastal living habitats around the globe. With the expected impacts of the climate change, it is predicted that the current existing defensive mechanism and water management policies will be insufficient to prevent flooding disasters. Twenty-one percent the world's population already lives within 30 km of the coast and these populations are growing at twice the global average (Nicholls, et al., 1999). Developing various strategies that incorporates the needs of the community as well as mitigation measures to ward off future disaster effects is imperative to the continued growth and safety of a coastal community. To broaden the current water management policy to focus beyond technological dependency by implementing new practices of alternative methods of water management is crucial. Such changes in policy are needed to support climate change adaptation and sustainable development.

This report will examine the shift in flood disaster and water management policies designed to incorporate alternative methods to current existing technology methods in The Netherlands. It will evaluate the new adaptation and mitigation policies of The Netherlands designed to address flood disaster and water management in association with climate change impacts. The increase in climate change threats has broadened this country‘s perspective towards water management to incorporate alternative innovative adaptation and mitigation strategies. An evaluation and understanding of the success and failure in the policy agendas of The Netherlands can provide valuable lessons already experienced in order to influence and change the policies of other threatened coastal cities. Examination of these methods can lead to recommendations to other threatened coastal communities in policy initiatives against flood related disasters enhanced by climate change. Data used for this research was obtained from various sources, including academic literatures, previous scientific studies, government agency documents, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and other data sources. Bibliographic entries for selected reference materials are provided in Section 5 (References).

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1.1 THE NETHERLANDS

The Netherlands is small in land space, but is considered a rich nation and a strong participant in the global market. The Netherlands has a unique landscape in which the country is formed by the deltas of the rivers Scheldt , Meuse , and the Rhine . Presently, 60% of the land area of The Netherlands is situated below the mean sea level, including many major cities and infrastructural facilities. The anchors of The Netherlands economic strong regions such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam , and De Haag are located under sea level. Because of its susceptibility to flooding, water management is important to the survivability and success of the nation.

Figure 1: Above and Below Sea Level Areas. Figure 2: Floodable Land Without Flood Defenses. Source: Deltawerken, 2004 Source: The Association of Provincial Authorities, 2004

The county has constantly battled with flooding since its existence. The Netherlands continually adjust its water management policies to combat the constant changes of the physical and societal circumstances. The Disastrous floods in 1375, 1404, 1421, 1530, 1532, 1552, 1570 and many other flooding events has lead to the dependency on building and strengthening dikes to keep water away from land (Smits, et. al., 2006). The Netherlands has a pattern of dike construction and land reclamation mapping the history of its battle against the sea. The change in the landscape impacted by water has leaded the Dutch into innovative engineering plans to prevent flooding disasters.

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Water management to prevent flooding disasters is a part of national identity and cultural heritage. The Netherlands has cultivated its own space through impressive engineering. The Netherlands has lost 570,000 hectares of land to the sea. Through its land reclamation effort, the country has reclaimed 520,000 hectares of land with only a net loss of 50,000 hectares (Pellenbarg & Van Steen, 2004). In the 18th and 19th century, the land space was so valuable that saltwater marsh was immediately reclaimed and occupied (Smits, et. al., 2006). The land reclamation occurred from the 1000 year and much of the existing land is man made (Smits, et. al., 2006). Over the centuries, the Dutch have turned the low-lying, marshy delta of the rivers, formerly uninhabitable area into a densely populated and heavily industrialized country (Hoevenaars, 2004). They rely on numerous strategically place dikes, dunes and pumping stations to protect its land from flooding.

Figure 3 : Netherlands Cities Below and Abov e Sea Level. Source: NederlandLeeftMetWater, 2005

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1.2 THE FLOOD DISASTERS OF 1953, 1993 & 1995

After the WWII, the political attention was geared towards re-building The Netherlands with a primary focus on the economy and infrastructure. Preparing against potential natural disasters such as flooding was not high on the priority list. In 1942, the Dutch Storm Water Committee installed by the Dutch Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water management conducted a review and concluded that The Netherlands would need better methods to protect the western and southwestern flood sensitive areas from a potential storm surge (Meijerink, 2005). The threats of flooding were recognized by the Dutch; however, the realization came too late.

Figure 4: Storm Surge of North Sea Flood of 1953 . Figure 5: Breach in embankments. Source: Deltawerken, 2004 Source: Deltawerken, 2004

In the night of January 31, 1953, shortly after the Dutch Storm Water Committee‘s report, a spring tide in the North Sea in combination with a powerful storm surge formed a massive wave that drove into the south portion of The Netherlands causing a catastrophic flooding disaster. Without any previous warning, the wave breached the embankment in 67 places and claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 people. The social ramifications were detrimental. Over 40,000 houses and 3,000 farmhouses were damaged, of which 3,000 houses and 300 farmhouses completely destroyed. Approximately 200,000 livestock drowned and approximately 500,000 acres of land flooded. It involved the evacuation of 72,000 people, which after 3 months, 24,000

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could not return home (NWP, 2005). The residents of the area lost all their possessions and many moved to other parts of The Netherlands or migrated to other parts of the world. There were serious social implications and economic impact to the country from the devastating disaster. The result of this historic event of the North Sea flood of 1953 still influences the perception of flooding safety issues in The Netherlands.

Figure 6 : Pictures from North Sea Flood 1953. Figure 7: Pictures from North Sea Flood 1953. Source: Deltawerken, 2004 Source: Deltawerken, 2004

After the devastation from the North Sea flood of 1953, the Delta Committee was created on February 21st to continue the work of the Storm Water Committee. There was a widespread of understanding that necessary measures to improve the safety of the public were needed. The instant reaction was to put up defensive wall to guard the country from detrimental water levels. The government moved into building vigilant defense system. Soon after the largest flood prevention program in the world, Delta Works Plan was crafted and adopted by the Dutch Parliament almost unanimously in 1957 (Meijerink, 2005). The Delta Works is series of many kilometers of dike reinforcements and the closure of small and large sea arms (Deltawerken, 2004). The Dutch took up the most extensive engineering challenges to take forceful action to protect against potential flooding.

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In conjunction with keeping the sea water out the national Directorate-General, the water boards proposed to reinforce the dikes along the main rivers through out the country to prevent river water flooding disasters. The environmentalists and residents of the river areas opposed the proposal. During the Delta Works, there was no consultation or involvement of environmental experts or the public. These opposition forces felt that irreversible ecological damages occurred. The dispute was over the protection of the unique cultural history, landscape and environmental concerns and to prevent the ecological and environmental mistakes that resulted from the Delta Work project.

Figure 8: Delta Works Projects Figure 9: Delta Works Projects Source: Deltawerken, 2004 Source: Deltawerken, 2004

The proposal for dike-reinforcement work in the rivers proceeded extremely slowly because of lawsuits and disagreements with the public who felt the need to be more involved in the procedure to ensure environmental protection. The opposition argued that the importance of the long-term effects of —morphological and ecological developments driven by tides and currents have been underestimated“ during the Delta Works building plans (Smits, et al. 2006). The deadlock between the government and the environmental groups lasted from 1975 until 1995 (Erasmus University, Rotterdam &

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Radboud University, Nijmegen, 2004). The dispute between the two parties abruptly ended when the rising water level in the rivers caused immediate threat to the nation. The focus was immediately returned to safety issues and urgent need for flood protection measures rushed the two sides finally came to an agreement. The conflict between two parties marked the debate and calling of new alternative methods for water management in The Netherlands.

In 1993 and 1995 water levels in the Rhine and Meuse rivers rose to extreme heights and the river areas were in serious danger. The increase in precipitation and rain storm resulting from climate change caused alarming rise of the water levels in the rivers. There were serious miscommunications and lack of longer-term forecasts in the near flooding threats of 1993 and 1995. A few days before the Meuse flooding in 1993, there were complications in communication with different authorities, which made early warning signal difficult to warn the citizen of proper evacuation. In 1993, forecasting and response authorities did not initiate action until extreme high water levels were reached. Two years later, towards the end of January 1995, there were additional problems in communication between Rijkswaterstaat and the authorities responsible for disaster management. The authorities asked for more on-range forecasts and specific policy-oriented advice, but Rijkswaterstaat held on to its own standards and procedures (Olsthoorn & Tol, 2001). The near-disaster forced an evacuation of almost 240,000 people in the areas around the rivers. Approximately 100,000 acres of land were flooded. A major highway was blocked for several weeks and there were limited casualties (NWP, 2005).

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1.3 SUMMARY

The flood of 1953 empowered The Netherlands to wage a vigilant war against water. It pioneered an extensive policy and technological flood prevention program to keep water out and away from its cities. However, the flood disaster of 1953 did not spark an evaluation of the practice of traditional water and land management. Instead, it increased and strengthened the initiative of defensive tactics to fight against water. It empowered the traditional water management with an intense increase in the efforts to keep water out of habitable land. The Netherlands was reactionary and defensive by their methods of waging a war against nature. However, the defensive mechanism that was exerted through intensive building of flood barriers was not enough. The floods of 1993 and 1995 illustrated that the threat of flooding is a reoccurring phenomenon in The Netherlands.

The flooding scare in the 1990‘s forced a new concern for safety breaking the deadlock between the public and the government. All parties placed safety as the first priority and decided to interweave landscape, cultural history, and nature conservation interests into the flood protection measures. In the spring of 1995, the state government planned to accelerate the reinforcement of the dikes along the large rivers. There was a strong conviction that technology would always be able to control the sea. Flood risk control always assumed that safety could be achieved by and new technological measures by maintaining the water infrastructure at safety standards.

The floods of 1993 and 1995 revealed that the probability of the occurrence of floods was much higher than estimated previously. The adverse effects from climate change and the rise of sea and river levels are a serious long-term problem. The technological measures are defensive mechanisms to create barriers that serve a short term issue. For The Netherlands, climate change is an accepted fact and issue that needs to be addressed in different sectors and policies. Water being kept separate from land use creates more risk scenarios and exerts increasing level of funds on technology that can potentially fail. The increase threats of climate change leads to the urgent need of new protection measures against flooding disasters.

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2.1 CLIMATE CHANGE & THE NETHERLANDS

The adverse effects from climate change, sea level rise, and river level rise are serious long-term problems. The various human-induced greenhouse gas components contribute to the physical, chemical and biological alteration of the global environment and climate. Glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets melt as the ocean temperature gets increasingly warmer. The interaction between the ocean, ice and snow cover, the atmosphere and land surface are complicated, intertwined and bears additional threats to The Netherlands. Flooding, from increasing peak discharges from rivers and streams, rising sea levels, and land subsidence is one of the main challenges confronting the water management system (Hoevenaars, 2004). The Dutch are faced with a new and enhanced set of water management and flood control problems that are impacted by climate change.

Figure 10: Greenhouse Gas Effect Model. Source: Yahoo Image.

2.1.1 Greenhouse Effects & Global W arming An understanding of the climate change system is necessary to comprehend the complicated system impacting coastal communities such as The Netherlands. The radiation from the Sun is a crucial energy source that drives the climate system. Through the natural greenhouse effect, the Earth‘s atmosphere receives the Sun‘s radiation. The Earth absorbs some heat into the atmosphere while reflecting the rest out. The balanced exchanging of energy between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation produces a stable climate (U.S. EPA, 2000). Human activities impact climate change by releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere causing changes in Earth‘s atmosphere. In 2005, the concentration of atmospheric CO2 has increased from a pre-industrial value of about NEURUS Research Jennifer J. Lee • Page 11 Climate Change and Disaster Planning: Case Study of The Netherlands, Flood Disaster and Water Management Polices 2. Impact of Climate Change

280 ppm to 379 ppm (IPCC, 2007). Greenhouse gases and aerosols affect the climate by altering incoming solar radiation and outgoing infrared (thermal) radiation that are part of Earth‘s energy balance (IPCC, 2007). It disturbs the natural heat circulation pattern of the Earth altering the balance of heat on the Earth‘s surface.

Figure 11: Temperature Changes Simulated in a Climate Change Experiment. Source: Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, 2006 .

The increases of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations lead to an average increase in the temperature of the surface-troposphere system. The Earth‘s atmosphere experiences extreme levels of warming, as the Earth‘s atmosphere is unable to release the solar radiation and continues to warm. Increasing global temperature and the increasing circulation of heat within the atmosphere continue to trap heat within the Earth‘s interior. As a result, the average global surface temperatures have increased overall. These extreme temperature changes are consistent with global warming. Global mean surface temperatures have risen by 0.74°C ± 0.18°C over the last 100 years (1906œ 2005). The rate of warming over the last 50 years is almost double the rate over the last 100 years (0.13°C ± 0.03°C vs. 0.07°C ± 0.02°C per decade) (IPCC, 2007). The warmest global average temperatures on record have all occurred within the past 15 years, with the warmest two years being 1998 and 2005. The greatest warming since 1976 has occurred over the Northern Hemisphere (NOAA, 2006).

2.1.2 Thermohaline Circulation The Thermohaline circulation is an important factor of climate change that contributes to the sea level rise and threatens low sea level regions. The movement of the ocean currents is called Thermohaline circulation. Thermohaline circulation pulls

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the water and circulates the heat through the currents as it controls the Earth‘s temperature and climate. Thermohaline circulation pulls warm salty water from the tropics northward and it gradually loses the heat as it reaches the Artic and simultaneously sinks into deeper water from the density of the salty water. As it sinks, it pulls warm water from the tropics returning cold water to the tropics (IPCC, 2001). Thermohaline circulation plays an important role in supplying heat and regulating the amount of sea ice in the Polar Regions.

The increase in the temperature in the ocean will cause to the intensity of thermal expansion. The rate of climate change depends significantly on the rate at which heat is removed from the ocean surface layers into the ocean's interior. An increase in the recycling rate of water in the hydrologic cycle could be a response to higher global average temperatures and sea level rise (National Research Council, 2001). Water at higher temperature expands. As the ocean warms, the density decreases and the volume of the ocean increases. As a result, thermal expansion is expected to contribute the largest component to sea level rise over the next hundred years due to the large heat capacity of the ocean (IPCC, 2007).

Thermohaline circulation influences the transport of heat in the ocean and has a significant impact on regional climates worldwide. The slow alteration of deep ocean temperatures will cause the thermal expansion to continue for many centuries even if atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases were stabilized. Thermal expansion is expected to continue to contribute to sea level rise over the next 100 years (IPCC, 2007). It impacts the earth‘s cooling capacity causing the land surface precipitation to increase. Since 1955, the ocean has warmed, accounting for more than 80% of the changes in the energy content of the Earth‘s climate system. Essentially, the earth is sitting in a boiling pot with the increase in global temperatures.

2.1.3 Melting Ice

Melting of the ice is also a result from climate change. It contributes to the sea level rise that threatens low sea level regions such as The Netherlands. The perennial sea ice assists in the reflection of the sunlight out to space, which helps the cooling process of the Earth‘s surface and atmosphere. With the melting perennial ice, the ocean absorbs solar heat even more, and more ice is melted by the warmer upper water layer that profoundly impacts the ocean circulation systems and the global climate. The perennial

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sea ice, which is a year-round ice, is rapidly diminishing and with the rising temperatures, will likely disappear within the 21st century at the current rate of melting (NASA, 2003). The natural heat release mechanisms would be destroyed.

The glaciers and ice sheets react to climate change by adjusting their shape and size and by gaining or losing ice mass resulting from climate variation. The Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets, when looked at conjunctively have most likely contributed to the sea level rise of the past decade. During the 20th century, glaciers and ice caps have experienced widespread mass losses and have contributed to sea level rise (IPCC, 2007). The ice sheet reduction will continue to change for thousands of years even after the climate had been stabilized. These current climate variations raise concerns about the survival rate of the glaciers, the ice sheets and sea level rising.

2.1.4 Sea Level Change

The most serious threats to The Netherlands are the rising sea level and the increase in precipitation and storms. According to climate change models, low-lying areas such as The Netherlands are the most likely to be adversely affected. Physical impact of the sea level rising on coastal regions is the displacement of wetlands and lowlands, along with coastal erosion, and increased vulnerability to coastal storms, damage and flooding (Neumann, 2000). Sea level changes results from the alteration of

Figure 12: Sea level Rise Through Satellite Observations. Source: GlobalWarmingArt, 2006

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the volume of water in the global ocean impacted by thermal expansion and the exchange of water between oceans and glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets and other water reservoirs. Sea level change ranged from 0.2 to 1.2 mm yrœ1 between 1961 and 2003, and from 0.8 to 1.6 mm yrœ1 between 1993 and 2003. During the 21st century the average rate of sea level rise is likely to exceed the 1961 to 2003 aver rate of (1.8 ± 0.5 mm yrœ1) and in 2090 to 2099 the central estimate of the rate of rise is 3.8 mm yrœ1. The sea level raise is 0.02 m by the middle of the 21st century, and the end estimates it to be 0.15 m (IPCC, 2007).

Netherlands is threatened by climate change because 60% of its country is under sea level. It is predicted that within the next century, the sea level will rise to a level between 20 centimeters to over 100 centimeters (Pellenbarg & Van Steen 2004). The immediate effect of a rise in sea level is submergence and increased flooding of coastal land, as well as saltwater intrusion of surface waters. Longer-term effects also occur as the coast adjusts to the new environmental conditions, including morphological change and saltwater intrusion into groundwater (Nicholls, et al. 2006). It is estimated that one serious flood is expected to occur every 4,000 years; therefore every five to ten years the dikes are checked and improved in order to meet safety standards. However, to deal with the rising sea level, the sea dikes will need to be heightened and broadened, but this also requires more space for these defensive measures. Additionally, the difference in height between sea level and the surrounding area will further increase, and the effect of a flood would be catastrophic (Erasmus University, Rotterdam & Radboud University, Nijmegen, 2004). The defense systems in place are not going to be strong enough to prevent flooding against an unpredictable rise of sea level rise and an increase in water flowing through the country.

2.1.5 Storms Increase in storm surges is another serious component of climate change threatening coastal cities such as The Netherlands. The warming temperature in the ocean causes more precipitation that could impact the frequency and intensity of more hurricanes and rainstorms. Low atmospheric pressure and high winds produce storm surges. Storm surges are a large threat to coastal cities when they coincide with high tide. Hurricanes occur because the ocean heat creates an environment that responds like a cyclone ‘s thermal engine. As the global thermometer continues to rise, the tropical and subtropical oceans are becoming increasingly warm. Changes in frequency and intensity

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of tropical cyclones result from the changes in the ocean temperatures and from the distribution of heat in the atmospheric circulation (Curry, 2004).

Since 1970, there has been a large increase in the occurrences of hurricanes reaching categories 4 and 5 globally. The potential destructiveness of hurricanes has shown evidence of longer lifetime and greater storm intensity. Intense tropical cyclone activity also increased since about 1970 (IPCC, 2007). In northern Europe, the precipitation changes are predicted to be the largest in the winter with up to a 20% increase in precipitation (IPCC, 2007). The winter discharge will increase and summer discharges decrease. The frequency, height and magnitude of peak flows are also expected to increase. During summer, periods of low flow will occur more frequently and last longer (Middelkoop, et al. 2001). There will be drastic changing seasonal precipitation levels that have a direct effect on the quantity of rain levels. Heavy rainfalls will make the soil more saturated, and the land surface to become more impervious. It is also suggested that these rainfalls will result in catastrophic runoff events (Disse & Engel, 2001). Future precipitation patterns will have significant impact to regions such as The Netherlands.

Figure 13: Precipitation Changes Simulated in a Climate Change Experiment. Source: Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, 2006

The Rhine, Meuse and the other adjacent rivers‘ primary function are to discharge water sediment and ice. River water is needed to prevent salt intrusion on the lower river delta, to flush the polders for agriculture for industrial use, and for the production of drinking water. The Rhine and Meuse rives form an important boundary

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condition for the regional freshwater system within The Netherlands (Van Asselt et al., 2001). The Netherlands dispose most of their water from the Rhine and Meuse into the North Sea though the estuaries in the southwestern part of The Netherlands. Since the construction of the Delta Works, most of these estuaries are dammed and blocked. As a result, the discharging of the increasing amounts of river water is becoming a problem (Meijerink, 2005).

Figure 14: The River Catchment Areas. Figure 15: Flood Prone Areas. Source: The Association of Provincial Authorities, 2004 Source: NederlandLeeftMetWater, 2005

The increase in precipitation invites a heavier flow of water into The Netherlands in all directions. These precipitation increases also have a direct effect on the amount of rain that falls directly on to The Netherlands soil, which makes the quantity issue even more critical. The increase in the quantity of water in The Netherlands will pose serious challenges to water management. The heavy rainfall will also directly impact the water safety issue near the rivers. The Meuse is a rain-fed river originating from northern France. The Scheldt River is a rain fed river originating from southern Belgium . The Rhine is a glacier and rain-fed river originating from Switzerland and it is the largest of the three rivers (Tol, et al, 2003). The Netherlands is the point of connection for all these rivers flowing in from different countries and water management along these rivers is crucial. The winter levels of the rivers Rhine and Meuse will increase with at least 5 per cent, but perhaps even 30 per cent in the next 100 years while in summer periods, NEURUS Research Jennifer J. Lee • Page 17 Climate Change and Disaster Planning: Case Study of The Netherlands, Flood Disaster and Water Management Polices 2. Impact of Climate Change

however, river levels could go down with, again, 5 per cent to 30 per cent (Pellenbarg & Van Steen 2004). This will cause problems for agricultural irrigation, river traffic and flooding which is a crucial function of the rivers.

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3.1 SHIFT IN POLICY

The water management of The Netherlands is conducted through a complex organizational structure that involves national, regional and local government. The principal water managers in The Netherlands are the Minster of Transportation Public Works and Water Management (national), water boards (regional), provinces and municipalities (local). The national government is responsible for the operational water management, and the flood defenses of larger water. Governmental Water Boards are the oldest governing bodies for The Netherlands with a deep history. It is responsible for the operational water management and implementation of polices and maintenance at the regional level. The water boards are also responsible for draining, wastewater treatment, water quantity and quality, and management of flood defenses. The provinces define their own policy for non-nation water policies, especially groundwater management. The municipalities are responsible for sewage, general polices on urban water quality element for urban planning (The Association of Provincial Authorities, et al., 2004). These organizations are responsible and are trusted to protect the country from water related threats.

The current attitude of the water management organizations towards water management and flood disaster policies in The Netherlands aims to accept the threats of climate change. The Working Group —Action Plan on Flood Defense“ formulated guiding principles in the matter of preventive flood protection. It emphasized that water must be given consideration in all policy fields (Disse & Engel, 2001). The country initially combated the threats of flooding by building dikes, dunes and other defense mechanisms, thus creating a pattern of dependency upon technology. However, due to the alarming increase of threats of flooding disasters related to climate change, The Netherlands has realized that water no longer can be kept out, but must be incorporated and managed differently. The country is shifting and is currently designing policies from the defensive mode to the assertively and proactive methods, in hopes to provide protection from flooding disasters from climate change related flooding threats.

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3.2 TECHNOLOGY FOCUSED POLICY

The history of The Netherlands has been reactive to combat the threats of flooding. The greater technical safety and lower probability of flooding is always cancelled out by the greater risk of deaths and more costly damages (Erasmus University, Rotterdam & Radboud University, Nijmegen, 2004). The reactive measures created a vicious cycle increasing the risk of catastrophic damage if the technological measures were to fail. The new threats are far more severe than what was presented in the past due to their dependency on only one source of protection. Risk based planning on flood prevention in The Netherlands should include appropriate trade-offs between risks, infrastructure costs, alternative land uses, and opportunity costs.

In traditional Dutch water management, threats of flooding were combated by building higher defense systems such as the dikes and by constructing other technological defense systems. People wanted to feel safer and this encouraged more dike-reinforcements. Strengthening dikes resulted in more intensive land usages behind the dikes (Wiering & Immink, 2006). The higher the dikes, the higher the water on the opposing side and the consequences are more severe if a dike were to break. The spatial arrangement of settlement and economic activities determines the risk and the potential damage of an area (Verhaeghe et al., 2005). The probability of the occurrence of a disaster has declined from the existing protection of the dike system. However, the threats and risks of disastrous damages have increased dramatically. There would be higher negative effects of more catastrophic damages if the dikes were to break (Smits, et al., 2006). The reactive response for flooding threats created a pattern of dependency and false sense of security on technology.

Disturbed by the consequence of building dikes and the river plains, The Netherlands is facing a serious problem of soil subsidence where the ongoing sedimentation and new peat formation are no longer receiving new sediment (Hoevenaars, 2004). The land reclamation efforts, dike enhancement, commercial extraction of peat and clay, the draining groundwater or natural gas from the ground, and the ability for peat to oxidize causes an additional burden on water management contributing to the soil subsidence (The Association of Provincial Authorities, et al., 2004). At the given rate the estimate for the overall land subsidence for 2050 is about 60 cm (Van Asselt, 2001).

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Figure 16: Ground Level Change in The Netherlands Source: The Association of Provincial Authorities, 2004

Climate change proposes an increase in the impacts and risks to The Netherlands and having technological measures as the only defensive method against the threats is not sufficient. Such policy has created new sets of problems, including more risks and soil subsidence. The Netherlands has hit a wall in their defensive technological measures in order to protect themselves from the impending threats. The flood incidents of the rivers and the past brought a harsh realization that water can not be kept out just by relying on technological measures. The river flooding incidents of the 1990‘s questioned whether the old discourse of keeping water separate from land is still adequate. It brought awareness that the traditional technological approach of building dikes and such measures for protection against floods has to be reconsidered. Flood protections, reduction of flood risks and adaptation to floods have become major issues in water management. It had to consider risk assessment to the country‘s safety, as well as soil subsidence. The sinking of the land is an added problem to water management in The Netherlands.

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3.3 ROOM FOR W ATER POLICY

The Dutch have learned that ”hard‘ technical measures are not sustainable or flexible (NWP, 2005). The approach of constraining water is no longer considered the best approach. The Netherlands has accepted that the defensive mechanism leads to exhaustion of funds and energy towards a grueling battle in the war against water. It has moved towards an offensive approach to form a partnership with nature and becoming ”allies‘ with water. Keeping water separate is no longer a favorable choice. Under conditions of extreme rainfall or if a dike breaks there needs to be an alternate solution to address the flooding issue. The government has shifted to new alternative methods to design a friendlier approach to water management.

Figure 17: Overview of Possible Measures in Room for Water Policy. Figure 18: Room for Water Policy. Source: NederlandLeeftMetWater, 2005 Source: NederlandLeeftMetWater, 2005

The government emphasizes that water systems should act as —buffers“ to mitigate the consequences of these extremities. In 1997, the national government announced a new policy called —Room for the River‘ (Ruimte Voor De Rivier). The Netherlands moved to incorporate safety into everyday land use by giving water room, making space available in the flood plains and towns so that water can be stored. The idea is to allow water to roam and exist as it once did prior to major flood protection barriers. They believe that too much land has been taken from the natural dynamic of the neighboring rivers and other water systems, and the water storage capacity of these systems have to be restored to prevent future flood disasters (Meijerink, 2005).

The new direction for creating room and areas around the major rivers of The Netherlands involves restriction of land use developments along certain stretches of rivers. It also considers digging extra channels alongside the rivers to allow for more

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room. This decreases the treat of flooing by lowering of flood plains (The Association of Provincial Authorities, et al., 2004). By enlarging the riverbed and restricting human activities in flood prone areas, the discharge capacity is increased, potential flood damage is limited and opportunities for nature development are created.

Another approach is for emergency flooding storage areas to be created. It is made possible by specially zoned storage areas as temporary storage areas. It is a place where water can be retained during extremely high river discharges. The policy involves attempts to release floodwater onto land, which act as a storage area for excess rainwater (Reuss, 2002). By storing water in low-lying and non-built up areas, the goal is to prevent uncontrollable flooding at unpredictable times by allowing a place to hold the water. When the threat of flooding recedes, and the water level falls sufficiently, the water can then be allowed to flow back out. This can buy time to save lives and lower the risk of damage and flooding. The approach is to avoid reinforcing and heightening the dikes along rivers and managing the water during occasional flooding.

Creating room for water includes incorporating policies and methods to reduce the fear of having water in the landscape and to integrate the existence of water into the landscape. Land is scarce in The Netherlands and by sharing space with water, The Netherlands seeks to reduce the risk factor from failure in dikes and reduce the dependency on technology. By allowing space for water the battle with water is no longer waged and an alliance with water is made. The measure also seeks to remove dikes or to move the dikes inland. Raising and strengthening dikes will require more land space. Netherlands lack space for their development and new measures are needed. The government seeks to improve dikes only when the widening of the riverbed is insufficient to provide the required safety level. The focus is to remove the emphasis on technological measures as the sole source of water management. It removes the notion that water must be kept out of area and designing policies where water can be incorporated into the landscape to reduce the dependence on dikes.

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3.4 MIXED LAND USE POLICY

Flood risk has a strong interrelationship with land-use. It is foreseen that in the next 30 years about 200,000 ha will be necessary to absorb extra space for settlement and infrastructure (Verhaeghe et al., 2005). Water also requires space and the more optimal direction was incorporate water into land use space. The lack of land space and the inevitable threats of flooding brought realization of the need for new innovative land uses in The Netherlands. The Netherlands is moving in the direction of incorporating water management and safety in order to redefine the meaning of mixed-land use. The Netherlands is taking the term mix-used to another level by adding a safety component. Mixed-used is no longer a focus on residential and economic uses but also incorporating safety and disaster planning. They are at the forefront of policy making as they incorporating the technical measures for safety with more natural alternative living and protection measures in land use. The Netherlands is incorporating alternative flood risk management by incorporating an innovative mixed land use practices. In the long run, it is a shift in policy that moves to reduce the risk of potentially larger threats from unpredictable level of impact of climate change.

In The Netherlands, many key decisions about future developments are incorporating climate-change risks and opportunities. Today The Netherlands is divided into several dike-protected regions with different flooding risks. Finding extra land to store surplus floodwater will require creative solutions (Kabat, et al., 2005). The creation of a large ”hydrometropole‘, a future floating city is an option explored by development companies in The Netherlands. An example of hydrometropole is a village of floating houses, which are being marketed for climate change friendly way of living. An example of Floating houses are located in Maasbommel, near the Maas River. The houses are made of lightweight wood, with a concrete base that is hollow. The structure has ship-like buoyancy. The structure has no foundations anchored to the land surface and it is fastened to 15-foot-long mooring posts with sliding rings. Incase of a flooding, the house is able to float upwards. Electrical cables, water and sewage flows through flexible pipes inside the mooring piles allowing the resident to enjoy a normal home with a unique floating capability (Deutsch, 2004). With the concept of making room for water The Netherlands is re-inventing mixed land use by creating new innovated development ideas such as hydrometropole and creation of floating houses.

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Figure 19: Type of Alternative Housing. Source: NederlandLeeftMetWater, 2005

Another innovative idea of the mix-use concept incorporating safety is incorporating every day land use and the ability to enjoying the water while providing room for water. Leisure and recreation time and spending have grown during the last decades. The recreation industries are looking into expand by the changing land use. The agricultural use in The Netherlands is on a decline and using the available land can be used as temporary storage areas. However, it can as well be used for recreational purposes and can be a dual functioning use of land space. Having these temporary storage spaces that are needed for urbanized area and it being situated near picturesque old towns, a perfect combination of culture and nature could be created (Smits, et al., 2006). The mixed-use of recreational and temporary flood storage facilities is an idea explored by The Netherlands to expand its various mixed uses of space while incorporating flood prevention and protection.

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3.5 DISASTER RESPONSE POLICY

After learning their lesson from the past, the government created the Disaster Act (Rampenwet) in 1985 to be able to respond quickly and efficiently to a disaster scenario. The Disaster Act is applicable when an event falls under the legal definition of a disaster. A hydrological disaster is one type of disaster that is defined as —an event that puts life at risk for a large number of people or affects materials interests severely and requires mitigation activities of various natures.‘‘ The Disaster Act requires municipal authorities to develop contingency plans. These plans should address each hazard that exists in the municipality such as flooding, and explosions. It must include the organizational structure, the emergency management activities and a list of all agencies and/or authorities that should be involved in emergency activities (Olsthoorn & Tol, 2001). This enables government organizations to know who to contact and be notified during a disaster. The guideline keeps the government agencies in efficient and effective responders during a disaster.

The Netherlands is increasing attention to emergency plans that focuses on promoting public awareness of potential risks, evacuation plans, emergency scenarios, and evacuation routes. The experience of a disaster subculture often plays an important role in taking action. Without a plan of an evacuation, it is difficult to disseminate information and thus increases the change that the population has the knowledge of how to react. In the previous period, there was a deficiency in the communication between water boards, authorities and social workers (Olsthoorn & Tol 2001). A new focus is on an advanced 3D flood modeling and flood risk mapping, the information system and decision making models to improve the evacuation process before and during a flood (NWP, 2005). Warning at an early stage enables people to take necessary precautions and preparations to limit the effects of a flooding as far as possible.

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3.6 ORGANIZATION RESTRUCTURING POLICY

Climate problems call for true integration across different disciplines to discuss, work out and eventually implement and govern new strategies. Climate change is expected to lead to a more vigorous hydrological cycle, increasing the probability of extreme rainfall and extreme discharges. Water is now considered as an element that should guide spatial planning, instead of following it (Van Asselt, 2001). These new measures and policies change the relationship between spatial planning and water management. The upcoming discourse of `accommodating water' addresses the necessary collaboration between spatial planners and water managers. With this new shift to make room for river and new land use methods, it incorporates water management into spatial planning. This innovative plan calls for a unification and partnership between water managers and land-use planners to be integrated and to implement the new measures. The differences between the worlds of spatial planners and of water managers must be overcome to work with the changing nature of land use and water management.

Traditionally, water management and spatial planning had different features and were kept as separate disciplines and agencies. Currently, Dutch spatial planning falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Housing and the Environment. This Department is organized into three governmental layers of municipalities, provinces and the national government. The planning principals rely on doing things in an orderly way keeping a neat environment to reflect on the national principal of spatial organization. The ”rule and order‘ principal is evident in the compact city plan. The spatial planning administration relies on intergovernmental negotiation because they don't have direct access to financial resources (Wiering & Immink, 2006).

The main differences between the two organizations are the perception of water and its role in planning and water management. The two organizations interpret the purpose and position of water differently with their view of planning principles. In spatial planning, water issues are seen as one of the many conditions in planning principles. In water management, water is the main and most important guiding principle, which takes precedence over all factors in spatial planning. The two organizations are also different in their way of way of practice. Spatial planners often think both in public and formal procedures and in dialogue through open planning

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concepts and metaphors. Water managers, by contrast, often reason from established and `measurable' civil engineering norms and standards. Due to the fact that water management is a policy domain that is not controversial in Dutch society, water management operated in an autonomous and isolated manner (Wiering & Immink, 2006). The development of a policy that angle to make more room for water allows spatial planning and water management to work together in their discipline to take on the task of offensive disaster planning. The two organizations are moving from regulation to strategic planning practices (Woltjer, 2007).

Due to the need for new multi-function use of space for flood prevention and safety measures, the cooperation between water management and spatial planning in `space for the river' projects will affect the ideas on flood risk assessment. Spatial planners will be required to intertwine water, land-use and society into their policies. The use of land in housing, commercial business, nature conservation, land development, and recreation will now incorporate flood hazard component where water will become an important factor in spatial planning. For water managers, they will be required to shift from traditional monitoring roles to a more proactive role in the discipline and the processes of the spatial planning. The decision-making will not only be a matter of technical facts but will become main issues alongside societal impacts (Wiering & Immink, 2006). The perceptions of urban areas as risk areas by the people will require the spatial planner and water manages to incorporate societal impact resulting from climate change and flooding risks. Water management and spatial planning will be increasingly made interdependent and the different policy dimensions will increasingly need to intermingle.

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3.7 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION POLICY

In The Netherlands, floods are not perceived as a natural hazard entirely outside human control. There are strong beliefs in the technological and financial possibilities to control and create flood safety according to plans (Olsthoorn, et al., 2004). This is the same ideology that the experts were motivated with the defensive mechanism to build massive flood barriers where in the logn term is not sufficeint to deal with climate change. The risks of flooding and water nuisance are new and people may not incorporate these risks in their decisions. Risk perception of potential hazards differs between public and experts (Terpstra et. al, 2005). The public has to be informed and be educated to deal with the growing concerns of climate change impact on The Netherlands and the safety risks.

New flood risk strategies are based on programs to extend floodplains and designate certain areas for retaining water. This is at the expense of local communities in those areas, and the reactions of the residents are very important to implement the flood prevention measures. If the communication is clear with the public they are more like to understand the problem and analysis of climate changes is more likely to support the climate change adapting flood protection measures. The consensual approach strengthens the self-regulating capabilities of society, which should result in more effective and efficient policies and measures (Olsthoorn, & Tol, 2001). The resistance to the river dike-reinforcement policy in the 1990‘s revealed that the public interest and involvement in coastal issues has grown resistant to top-down decision-making. The new spatial and water management shift in organizational structure will require an integrative collaborative planning with the public.

”The Netherlands Lives with Water‘ public awareness campaign kicked off in February 2003. The campaign goals explain the government‘s policy of ”giving water more room‘ and to gain support for the program. The campaign explains what measures such as storing water mean in practice, and information of climate change and the consequences for water management in The Netherlands. The awareness that the government is affecting measures to balance the effects of climate change has increased significantly. At the end of 2003, 82% of the population recognized the social importance of measures to protect against flooding, and 72% endorsed the proposition that this would have to involve ”giving water more room‘ (The Association of Provincial

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Authorities, et al., 2004). The flexibility of the public to accommodate polices of room for water was related to the increased awareness of climate change and the probable increase in the occurrence of extreme climatic conditions.

Figure 20 :Example of Netherlands Lives with Water Campaign Cartoon. Source: The Association of Provincial Authorities, 2004

The successful implementation of many coastal policies, including adaptation to climate change, is now increasingly dependent on public acceptance and awareness. The risk perceptions of civilians, and on the social interests of policy actors, are essential for the new water management polices. It is essential that there is a mutual understanding and general awareness among the public of the potential impacts of climate change and of the sub sequential need for action. The public has to understand the threat of climate change to understand the urgency of collectively preparing preparation and recovery methods so that if a disaster is to occur lives can be saved with everyone knowing what to do. Assessment of coastal adaptation to climate change should therefore include some analysis of the public‘s perception and views on climate change and the need to adapt, since these are important determinants of a country‘s adaptive capacity.

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3.8 THREE STEP RULE POLICY

The government has facilitated an education campaign to encourage residents of the nations to partake in a pro-active effort to slow run-offs as a method of flood disaster defenses. As a first step, the campaign encourages people to retain water as much as possible to create room for water even at the small scale utilizing open space such as a basement. The second step is to store the water and aim to hold the water to slowly rid of the water. The final step is to drain the water away if there is no other alternative to storing the water (The Association of Provincial Authorities, et al., 2004). In this campaign the government is facilitating the public to take responsibility in assisting in the slower run-off of water during extreme conditions of water level.

Figure 21: Three Step Policy for Retaining Water. Source: NederlandLeeftMetWater, 2005

The traditional method of water management was to get rid of water as soon as possible. However the long retention of water reduced the quantity level of water that needs to be disposed. It relieves the pressure for the rivers to dispose of water and on technological measures to keep the water separate from land use. The new water management focuses on retaining water as long as possible and gives enough room for river expansion and run off delays.

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3.9 SUMMARY

The Netherlands is no strangers to flooding and has been ”at war‘ with water since the beginning. After major flooding disasters, The Netherlands were reactive and defensive towards keeping the danger (water) out of their cities. The Netherlands generated a strong defensive strategy by developing a massive defensive barrier program. However, The Netherlands learned that defensive policies focusing on technological measure were only beneficial to protect their short-terms goals, but not enough to deal with the long-term effect of climate change. The defensive mechanism in turn also caused a negative impact on the ecosystem.

Effective climate adaptation policy cannot be made on a "stand alone" basis, but has to be incorporated into other policies (Burton, et al, 2002). It encourages innovative development and mixed-use land planning to accommodate water during occasional threats of flooding. It seeks to restructure their organizations to be able to work towards achieving a sustainable living environment with water by incorporating a working relationship between spatial planners and water managers. It seeks to partner with the public to work to understand living with the potential threats of climate change. Overall, The Netherlands seeks a pro-active, offensive approach understanding the threats and the factual existence of climate change and has begun to implement climate change adapting policies while attempting to mitigate the problem at hand. The Netherlands developed innovative approaches to climate change impacts in order to better prevent potential devastating disasters.

The policies of The Netherlands have been proven to be successful, but are not without difficulties. One challenge that The Netherlands face is the restrictive time frame in which it seeks to make these policies effective. Due to the fact that the policies are preventive in nature and developed to only be tested during an actual disaster, the successes of its policies are hard to measure. The concept in which it seeks to be pro- environmental and better risk assessor is one that has more logic than actual practice. The financial investment of such policies is also another challenge. The development of mixed-use land planning and new innovative ideas to be practiced and implemented will have a high financial commitment and require a lot of monetary investments. These are factors that in a less wealthy country will cause difficulty. The Netherlands is incorporating its new policies into its new policies into its planning, flood disaster and water management practices as the climate change threats impacts the country. The

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Netherlands has no other choice but to adapt and to mitigate to climate change.

The Netherlands moved towards policies that no longer wage a war with water. It has taken the pro-active approach by creating policies to form partnerships with water. It seeks water and nature as an ally aiming for sustainability and survivability with the growing unpredictable threats of climate change. The Netherlands understand its dependency on technology but does not focus solely on technological measures to defeat the potential threat of flooding. The more favorable approach in the policies is to incorporate alternative solutions for adaptation and mitigation to flood disaster and water management polices. It focuses on merging of the sciences and understanding the threats of climate change to their coast cities into their water management and land use methods.

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Climate change has social implications to the flood sensitive coastal areas that are undisputable. Mega-cities are dominantly in coastal settings and this means that the problems of sea-level rise and other coastal implications of climate change are a common long-term concern. Many coastal mega-cities are growing rapidly today and thus have become more susceptible to the threat of unpredictability in climate change (Nicholls, 1995). The already existing flood sensitive areas that are challenged are even more threatened by damaging floods due to climate change. It is these types of problems that the climate change models predicted that will have a devastating affect on the flood sensitive areas. Most of the cities that are to be impacted or have been impacted need to address the threats from climate change. To avoid drastic and negative social implications, policy makers and planners need to integrate their roles to create policies that understand the need to adapt to climate change. It is imperative that these officials identify strategies and policies to plan for safer communities to live with the climate change. The goal to develop a livable community with the increasing climate change related threats is important.

Climate adaptation policy refers to actions taken by all levels of governments to promote legislation, regulations and incentives to mandate or facilitate changes in socio- economic systems aimed at reducing vulnerability to climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Changes can be made in "practices, processes, or structures of systems to projected or actual changes in climate" (Burton, et al 2002). Pre-crisis and post-disaster preparation is much needed to prevent the devastating social ramifications and is more critical than ever in ensuring speedy and meaningful responses and recovery efforts. The Netherlands demonstrates an understanding of the threats of climate change. The new direction and the new focus are on the ability to adapt to the changing climate to avoid negative social implications. While attempting to reduce the intensity of climate change their focus is on an alternative plan to sustain survivability and livable communities. The following are recommendations and lesson of The Netherlands for climate changed threaten, flood sensitive, coastal cities:

• Understand the impact of climate threats and the potential of enhancement to other threats to an area. • Adaptive climate change should focus on pro-active and offensive methods. A narrow focus only on defensive method can cause set backs in the long run.

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• Separating water out of the cities through technological measures can create a false sense of safety and therefore should be carefully considered. Technology measures are merely a short-term solution to a long-term problem of climate change. • Nature vs. technology: Water is a natural existing factor and instead of trying to change the natural environment, creative and innovative ideas of land use should be incorporated to resist production new problems. • The merging of water management and land use is critical. Water management and land use is no longer separate entities rather important incorporated mix of use. Without one, the other cannot be sustained. It is no longer the separation of the two but cooperation and a partnership of land use planners and engineers to work for sustainable water management policies. • Government should identify gaps in organization structure to ensure strong interaction and coordination between agencies for enhanced policy implementations. • The public needs to be better aware of risks and the potential disasters so that they are informed of what to do if it happens to prevent negative impact to human life. • There should be a clear outline guideline for government and public to know what to do during a disaster. • The public should be informed of the threats and risks of flooding disaster and climate change threats for understanding and support in implementing policies.

Policy transfers from The Netherlands to wealthier nations are more feasible due to the availability of resources. An important lesson that can be learned from The Netherlands is that they are not to depend solely on technology but to create alternative policies to adapt and mitigate climate change related issues. In the United States, major coastal cities such as New Orleans, Miami, and New York will have to upgrade flood defenses and drainage systems or risk adverse consequences (Neumann, 2000). In New York, up to 2.5 million people would be required to evacuate during a major hurricane landfall (Nicholls, 1995). Rich nations such as the United States have made similar mistakes to that of The Netherlands by focusing on technological methods to protect its cities from flooding. The New Orleans case is a clear example of what can happen when

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there is a failure to the technological protection measures. As a wealthy nation, the United States has the option of building dikes and levees ; however much can be learned from The Netherlands that policies for land use can also accommodate to the technology to guard against climate change related flooding threats.

Poor communities are especially vulnerable and tend to have more limited adaptive capacities, forcing them to be more dependent on climate-sensitive resources such as local water and food supplies (IPCC, 2007). Countries like the Philippines are likely to experience an increase in the intensity and the frequency of typhoons and flash floods (Allen, 2006). Global warming and climate change is altering their ability to produce food. Health, food supply, safety and various other factors are threatened by the increasing climate change threats. Policy transfers to a poor country are more difficult to achieve. However, these poor countries can practice adopting The Netherlands —room for water“ policy to incorporate some of water management policies. It can utilize the policy of creating designated flood zone and other viable methods that can be still manageable and feasible even with their limited resources. It can learn from The Netherlands that technology is not the only solution for protection.

Climate change is an issue that the global community faces as one community. Threats resulting from climate change are a global concern. The flood sensitive areas are far behind in adjusting their policies to keep up with ever-growing climate change issues. Policies in land use and public safety in most of the global communities do not have an understanding of how to adapt to the changing climate. Adaptation is defined as "adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities" (IPCC, 2001). The direction for coastal cities and low sea level costal cities to address climate change impacts is the approach of adapting and mitigating planning methods for flood disaster and water management policies. It is the responsibility of the international countries to assist each other by finding measures to adapt and mitigate climate change impacts and to seek sustainability and survivability of the earth as one community.

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35. Olsthoorn, A.A. , Van der Werff, P.E. , Bouwer L.M. & Huitema, D. (2004). Neo- Atlantis: Dutch Responses to Five Meter Sea Level Rise. Retrieved on January 6, 2007, from http://www.uni- hamburg.de/Wiss/FB/15/Sustainability/annex12.pdf.

36. Pellenbarg, P.H., & Van Steen, P.J.M. (2004). Water management challenges in the Nederlands. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 95 (5), p. 590-598.

37. Reuss, Martin. (2002). learning from the Dutch: Technology, management and water resources development. Technology and Culture, 43 (3), 465-472.

38. Smits, A.J.M., Nienhuis, P.H. & Saeijs, H.L.F. (2006). Changing estuaries, changing views, Hydrobiologia, 565, 339-355.

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40. The Association of Provincial Authorities, The Association of Water Boards, & The Association of Netherlands Municipalities. (2004). Water in The Netherlands 2004-2005: Dutch Water Management Facts and Figures. Gent, Belgium: Snoeck Ducaju & Zoon.

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41. Tol, R. S.J., Van der Grijp, N., Olsthoorn, A.A., & Van der Werff, P. (2003). Adapting to Climate: A Case Study on Riverine Flood Risks in The Netherlands. Risk Analysis, 23 (3), 575-583.

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NEURUS Research Jennifer J. Lee • Page 41 Climate Change and Disaster Planning: Case Study of The Netherlands, Flood Disaster and Water Management Polices

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Today in Dutch history: the tragic ‘Watersnoodramp’ flooding of 1953

The consequences were disastrous.

On February 1, 1953, one of the biggest natural disasters to ever hit the Netherlands took place. We’re talking about the Watersnoodramp , the largest flood that ever took place in the Netherlands.

It was a Saturday night, January 31, 1953, when the flooding began, continuing into the morning of Sunday. A storm surge hit the Netherlands, as well as the east coast of England, Belgium, and Germany.

As a result of Watersnoodramp , over 2,100 people died across three countries, with more than 1,800 of them being in the Netherlands. Apart from the lost lives, this tragedy caused chaotic damage to livestock and homes.

How did the Watersnoodramp happen?

The North Sea is shaped like a funnel, so when a storm breaks from the north or northwest and pushes the water southward, it cannot drain. This causes the water to build up and raise the sea level further.

It’s no surprise, then, that the 1953 flood was not the first one. A similarly tragic flood happened in 1916.

On Saturday, January 31, the KNMI (Royal Dutch Weather Institute) issued a bad weather warning for the night of Saturday to Sunday: On top of spring tide, which caused the water level to be higher than normal, a northwestern storm was on its way to the Netherlands.

Adding to this, the wind pushed the water up to rise higher and higher, making the sea reach a record height of four to five meters above the average sea level.

READ MORE | The Dutch build cities on sinking land: how will this fare with climate change?  

The first dikes were breached between 4 AM and 6 AM on Sunday, February 1, by the storm surge. In a short amount of time, 165,000 hectares of land were covered by seawater.

Many people were caught unprepared — while some hadn’t heard of the warning, others chose to ignore it. Among the people who did get the news about the storm, about 72,000 people were evacuated.

After the flood

The consequences of the Watersnoodramp were dramatic.

Roads were destroyed, and telephone lines were down. In many regions, the only transportation possible was by boat. Cattle died in droves, crops failed, and thousands of homes became uninhabitable.

Most tragically, more than 1,800 victims perished in the Netherlands as a result of the flood, while another 105 were never found. Several unknown bodies were also buried in the days after the disaster.

The total estimated damage due to the flood was around 1.5 billion guilders , which is equivalent to around €5.4 billion today.

The 1953 flooding in the rest of Europe

The Netherlands was not the only country that felt the devastating effects of the 1953 flood. Countries like England, Belgium, and Germany were also badly hit.

According to the British Environment Agency , 300 people died in the UK, about 24,000 houses were destroyed, and 40,000 people were evacuated.

In Belgium, several dikes were breached, and areas of Ostend and Antwerp were flooded. Around 40 people lost their lives.

The Delta Works

After the disastrous results of the Watersnoodramp, it was unanimously agreed that protective measures be taken not just in the Netherlands, but in all of Europe. The iconic Thames barrier in Britain is one of the results.

READ MORE | Why the Netherlands isn’t underwater (VIDEO INSIDE)

In the Netherlands, the ideas were grander, and the Dutch government introduced Delta Works , a series of construction projects aimed at protecting low-lying areas from flooding. 

These staggering solutions of engineering are a big and lasting reminder that the North Sea will always impact the lives of the Dutch. It’s a system that is admired around the world to this day.

The Delta Works is a working process to handle flooding. In September 2008, reports showed that the Netherlands would need a massive new building program to strengthen the country’s water defences against the effects of global warming.

READ MORE | The Dutch built cities on sinking land: how will this fare with climate change?

The plans included drawing up worst-case scenarios for evacuations, and estimated costs at €100 billion. Yikes!

Lastly, here is an original 1953 news report, to show the disastrous effects of the 1953 flood (in Dutch):

Did you know about this Dutch tragedy? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Liked it? Try these on for size:

The dutch and their monarchy, a two-sided coin, 9 things you might not know about king willem-alexander, why does the netherlands love orange the full explainer, what do you think.

Thank you for this article. I remember the time.

Small technicality, the flood of 1953 was the biggest in modern times.

There’s at least two which were bigger; St Elisabethsvloed 1421 – creating the Biesbosch and likely the moast deadly one The flood of somewhere around 1000 creating the Zuiderzee (currently known as the IJsselmeer

I was there. Welgedaan

My father was one of the helicopter pilots

My Mother had a baby 2 days later in Dordrecht. My sister. I arrived on the scene a few years later in Canada. Thank you for this article.

My mother often mentioned this tragedy but never went into much detail about it. The footage has helped me understand the enormity of it much more. Thank you for posting ….

I recall my Opa working on the Moordijk after the floods. My family lives in the UK and I was only 3 at the time so this was really helpful to me to learn more about what happened and why.

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The north sea flood of 1953.

Despite a gale warning from the local meterological office on the morning of Saturday, 31 January 1953, the passenger ferry Princess Victoria left Stranraer, Scotland for her regular journey across the Irish Sea. Shortly after departure, the ship got into trouble, and at 2 p.m., before rescue crews could locate the listing vessel, the order was given to abandon ship. Of her 179 passengers and crew, 133 lost their lives.

Netherlands. Viewed from a US army helicopter, a Zuid Beveland town gives a hint of the tremendous damage wrought by the flood to Dutch islands.

1953 US Agency for International Development

The Princess Victoria was the first victim of an exceptional European windstorm, an extreme extratropical cyclone that grew in intensity as it skirted the British Isles and veered south along the east coast of Great Britain, with devastating effects. The storm coincided with high spring tides and the semi-enclosed shape and shallowness of the North Sea to produce a storm surge that flooded large swathes of the east coast of England, the Netherlands, and parts of Belgium. The surge peaked at 3.35 meters above the average sea level, and waves of over 4.9 meters were recorded. In the countries affected, physical sea defenses were in a dilapidated state due to the Second World War, and warning systems, where they existed, were rudimentary. In the UK there was no national warning system in place and so, despite the earlier sinking of the Princess Victoria and the slowness of the southward progression of the storm surge, each community along the coast was inundated unexpectedly as they slept. The Dutch storm tide warning service was more advanced than in the UK, but despite warnings being distributed widely via telegram and radio, the occurrence of the flood during the middle of the night, when the radio stations were not broadcasting and people were asleep, rendered the warnings almost useless.

Extent of the flooding on the east coast of England

All rights reserved © 1953 J. A. Steers, The Geographical Journal , London: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

This work is used by permission of the copyright holder.

Extent of the flooding in the Netherlands

2011 Lencer Click here to view Wikimedia source.

The scale of the flooding was unprecedented. In England there were 1,200 breaches of sea defenses, 140,000 acres of land were flooded, 32,000 people were evacuated, 24,000 properties were damaged, 46,000 livestock were killed, and 307 people died. In the Netherlands, approximately 100,000 people were evacuated, 340,000 acres were flooded, 47,300 buildings were damaged, 30,000 livestock were killed, and 1,836 lives were lost. In addition, there were 17 deaths in Scotland, 22 in West Flanders, Belgium, and 230 in vessels at sea (including the 133 lost on the Princess Victoria ).

A breach at Erith after the North Sea flood of 1953

1953 UK Government (HMSO)

The catastrophe led to in-depth government reviews of events in both the Netherlands and the UK, resulting in significant improvements in coastal defenses, warning systems, and flood management policy. In the UK, the largest results of this review process were the development of the Storm Tide Warning Service (today part of the National Severe Weather Warning System) and eventually the completion of the Thames Barrier in 1984 to protect London from future surges. In the Netherlands, the Delta Commission’s study into the cause and effect of the floods led to the Delta Works, a series of dams, locks, sluices, levees, and storm surge barriers, including the nine-kilometer Oosterscheldekering dam, that now protect the Netherlands from the threat of coastal flooding.

How to cite

Hall, Alexander. “The North Sea Flood of 1953.” Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia (2013), no. 5. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. https://doi.org/10.5282/rcc/5181 .

ISSN 2199-3408 Environment &Society Portal, Arcadia

2013 Alexander Hall This refers only to the text and does not include any image rights. Please click on the images to view their individual rights status.

• Baxter, Peter, J. “The east coast Big Flood, 31 January-1 February 1953: A Summary of the Human Disaster.” in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 363 (2005): 1293-1312.
• Gerritsen, Herman, “What Happened in 1953? The Big Flood in the Netherlands in Retrospect.” in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 363 (2005): 1271-1291.
• Hall, Alexander, “The Rise of Blame and Recreancy in the United Kingdom: A Cultural, Political and Scientific Autopsy of the North Sea Flood of 1953.” in Environment and History 17 (2011): 379-408.
• Steers, J. A. “The East Coast Floods.” in The Geographical Journal 119 (1953): 280-295.
• Video commemorating the 60th anniversary of the floods
• British Meteorological Office Info-graphic on the British impacts of the flood
• 50 year retrospective on the floods
• Print page to PDF

About the author

York University, Canada

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Simulation of the 1953 storm surge in the North Sea

• Published: 15 September 2018
• Volume 68 , pages 1759–1777, ( 2018 )

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• Byung Ho Choi 1 ,
• Kyeong Ok Kim 2 ,
• Jin-Hee Yuk 3 &
• Han Soo Lee   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7749-0317 4  

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The 1953 North Sea floods, the Big Flood, was one of the worst natural disasters in Europe in modern times and is probably one of the most studied severe coastal floods. Several factors led to the devastating storm surge along the southern North Sea coast in combination of strong and sustained northerly winds, invert barometric effect, high spring tide, and an accumulation of the large surge in the Strait of Dover. However, the storm waves and their roles during the 1953 North Sea storm surge are not well investigated. Therefore, the effect of wave setup due to breaking waves in the storm surge processes is investigated through numerical experiments. A coupled process-based tide-wave-surge model was used to investigate and simulate the storm surge in the North Sea during January 31–February 1, 1953 and validated by comparing with historical water level records at tide gauges and wave observations at light vessels in the North Sea. Meteorological forcing inputs for the period, January 27–February 3, 1953 are reproduced from ERA-20C reanalysis data with a constant correction factor for winds. From the simulation results, it is found that, in addition to the high water due to wind setup, wave setup due to breaking waves nearshore play a role of approximately 10% of the storm surge peaks with approximately 0.2 m. The resulting modeling system can be used extensively for the preparedness of the storm surge and wave of extreme condition, and usual barotropic forecast.

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Acknowledgements

We thank two anonymous reviewers, whose valuable comments helped us improve the quality of this paper.

The study was supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (17K06577) from JSPS, Japan, and the project titled ‘Study of Air-Sea Interaction and Process of RI Typhoon’, funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea. The study was also supported by the project entitled ‘Solving Grand-challenge Problems in Science and Engineering to Expand Utilization of Supercomputing’ at Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information.

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Byung Ho Choi

Marine Environmental Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Busan, 49111, Republic of Korea

Kyeong Ok Kim

Division of National Supercomputing, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea

Jin-Hee Yuk

Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC), Hiroshima University, 1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8529, Japan

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Choi, B.H., Kim, K.O., Yuk, JH. et al. Simulation of the 1953 storm surge in the North Sea. Ocean Dynamics 68 , 1759–1777 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-018-1223-z

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16th January, 2018 in Local & Family History , Natural World

The devastating storm of 1953

The devastating North Sea flood of 1953 caused catastrophic damage and loss of life in Scotland, England, Belgium and The Netherlands and became one of the worst peacetime disasters of the 20 th  century. 307 people died in England, 19 died in Scotland, 28 died in Belgium, 1,836 died in the Netherlands and a further 361 people died at sea.

The flood caused a major rethinking of coastal defences, weather prediction and warning systems after it became obvious that the majority of deaths could have been avoided had these already been in place. The failure of any preventative measures meant many people – babies, adults and the elderly – went to bed that on that fateful night of Saturday 31 January 1953 not knowing of the devastation to come and for many that they would not wake up in the morning 

How did the storm form?

What made the storm of 1953 so different from others was the fact that it had a number of elements combined together to make it so deadly and devastating. Annual spring tides with a deep pressure system (which in itself can cause the sea to rise) and severe gale force winds. The wind was recorded 126mph at Costa Hill in Scotland.  All of these elements funnelled those high tides southward toward the narrow (and shallow) English Channel, causing the swell to rise even further. The storm surge was recorded at 5.6 metres (18.4ft) at its peak.

The Terrain

The east coast of the UK has a number of low lying areas, some of which are barely above sea level, most notably in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Essex and the mouth of the Thames area. The Netherlands also has 50% of its territory less than 1 metre above sea level and 20% of it is below.

Sea defences in the UK were of inadequate design for flooding and tidal surges in 1953. What little there was had been designed in World War Two and was designed to keep invading armies out, not invading seas. The natural sea barriers such as sand dunes had also seen much erosion and had numerous gaps where people had walked over and worn away the natural height. Tragically, these would later prove to be natural inlets and gateways for the sea surge to flow inland.

Post war housing shortages also saw a rise in the number of pre-fabricated buildings (mainly in a bungalow design) in many of these low lying areas. This cheap type of housing was also popular with the rising post-war trend of seaside holidays especially in places like Essex and were nearly always located very close to the shoreline. The design of this type of house was never intended to withstand such force and many collapsed or were simply washed along with the current, ending up metres away from where they originally stood or washed out to sea entirely. 

Lack of warning

That afternoon of 31 January 1953, a number of people noticed a weak tidal ebb. However, it didn’t seem to cause any alarm and people carried about their daily business as usual. Fishing boats still went out as usual and buses still ran their routes along the seafront. It was a typical Saturday for the people living on the coast. The official weather forecast was a slight drizzle and strong winds but nothing regarding waves and tidal flow.

This calm evening was soon to change. At different points during the evening, the tide surged over the sea walls taking many by surprise and leaving no time to warn others. One survivor in Norfolk said it took less than 15 minutes from the water first tricking in, to reaching almost 5 ft inside his property. Those living closest to the sea reported that a wall of water came over almost immediately with many homes collapsing instantaneously with the force of the water rushing in.

The force of the sea also snapped telephone and electricity cables, rendering communication impossible. Similar stories were reported in Belgium and The Netherlands. The coastal residents on both sides of the North Sea were entirely at the mercy of the tide.

The death toll at sea also included those from a number of smaller fishing vessels to the larger passenger ferry MV Princess Victoria , which sailed from Stranraer to Larne with 179 people on board including 51 crew. A rogue wave broke open the already damaged ferry doors whilst sailing in the Northern channel. One survivor recollected seeing one of the lifeboats crashing back into the sinking ferry, capsizing and pulling all the women and children on board down to their deaths. Of all the passengers and crew on board the ferry that night, no women or child survived. 133 lives were lost in total and only 44 men survived.

Immediate aftermath

The preliminary emergency response came from the surviving community itself due to delays in communicating for outside assistance. Outside of the affected areas, the first that many knew of what had happened was many hours after the majority of people had been killed.

In the UK, 1600km of coastline was damaged destroying mile upon mile of sea wall and inundating 160,000 acres of land with seawater, rendering it unusable for a number of years for agricultural purposes. Livestock and domesticated animals were killed in the thousands and washed out to sea. Over 24,000 homes in the UK were seriously damaged. 40,000 people in the UK were left homeless and many people’s livelihoods were ruined. In the Netherlands where the death toll was much higher, 9% (337,300 acres) of Dutch farmland was devastated by sea water. Over 47,000 homes were damaged, 10,000 of which were completely destroyed.

When the official UK search and rescue operation was launched on the morning of 1 February it involved the police, ambulance staff, the fire service, army, the Navy and RAF personnel.  The ‘blitz’ spirit was once again in full swing with temporary shelters popping up and soups kitchens opening. The story of the flood went worldwide with offers of help coming in from many places abroad such as Canada, Finland and even from schoolchildren in Kuwait.

In The Netherlands, the US Army (based in East Germany) sent aid as well as other surrounding European countries. A national donation program was implemented as well as international aid pouring in. The Red Cross was so overwhelmed with contributions; they actually gave away funds to other countries in need.

Questions soon began to emerge regarding the complete lack of warning given to the population and the consequent number of deaths. UK priority was initially given to repairing sea walls in addition to rehousing the displaced population. Long-term, building new flood defences were based much more on a cost/risk basis. The Thames Barrier is one such example that was designed and built following the lessons from the 1953 flood. Warning sirens were put in place at the most at risk areas and are still in use today. The response in the Netherlands was immediate with the Dutch government quickly forming the Delta commission to study the floods and eventually the ‘Delta Works’ were commissioned, enabling the closing of estuaries to prevent upstream flooding and included dams, sluices, locks, dykes, levees, and barriers. Taxes were implemented and readily accepted with a national mind-set that this must never happen again. Even today, commemorations still happen on every anniversary for the dead.

Weather and tidal forecasting leapt forward in the ‘60s with the use of satellites, which provided more accurate predictions and data. The Met office began working with the National Oceanography centre and the environment agency was created. We also saw the emergence of more immediate communication with TV and regular weather reports.

Despite all the huge improvements made since 1953 and as the famous story of King Canute and the waves showed, man can never control the sea. However, we can be better warned of its actions ahead of time. Sadly for the coastal residents of 1953, neither time nor tide could wait.  

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• Published: 29 June 2020

Historic storms and the hidden value of coastal wetlands for nature-based flood defence

• Zhenchang Zhu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6749-1850 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Vincent Vuik 4 , 5 ,
• Paul J. Visser 4 ,
• Tim Soens 6 ,
• Bregje van Wesenbeeck 7 ,
• Johan van de Koppel 1 ,
• Sebastiaan N. Jonkman 4 ,
• Stijn Temmerman 8 &
• Tjeerd J. Bouma 1 , 9 , 10  

Nature Sustainability volume  3 ,  pages 853–862 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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• Engineering
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Global change amplifies coastal flood risks and motivates a paradigm shift towards nature-based coastal defence, where engineered structures are supplemented with coastal wetlands such as saltmarshes. Although experiments and models indicate that such natural defences can attenuate storm waves, there is still limited field evidence on how much they add safety to engineered structures during severe storms. Using well-documented historic data from the 1717 and 1953 flood disasters in Northwest Europe, we show that saltmarshes can reduce both the chance and impact of the breaching of engineered defences. Historic lessons also reveal a key but unrecognized natural flood defence mechanism: saltmarshes lower flood magnitude by confining breach size when engineered defences have failed, which is shown to be highly effective even with long-term sea level rise. These findings provide new insights into the mechanisms and benefits of nature-based mitigation of flood hazards, and should stimulate the development of novel safety designs that smartly harness different natural coastal defence functions.

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The collected wave data for the two present-day storms are available on figshare ( https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6011129.v2 ). Other data that support the findings of this study are available within the paper and its supplementary information files.

Code availability

The Matlab scripts for calculating breach discharge and the expected fatality rate in the flooded area are available on figshare ( https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6010958 ).

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Acknowledgements

We thank I. Kratzer and J. de Smit for their help in the field. We also thank A. Wielemaker for GIS support and Q. Zhu for the assistance in polishing the figures. This work is part of the research programme BESAFE, financed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). Additional financial support has been provided by Deltares, Boskalis, Van Oord, Rijkswaterstaat, World Wildlife Fund, HZ University of Applied Science and ARK Natuurontwikkeling. Z.Z. was also supported by the project funded by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019M652825) and the Key Special Project for Introduced Talents Team of the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou; GML2019ZD0403).

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Zhenchang Zhu, Johan van de Koppel & Tjeerd J. Bouma

Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, Institute of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

Zhenchang Zhu

Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China

Delft University of Technology, Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft, the Netherlands

Vincent Vuik, Paul J. Visser & Sebastiaan N. Jonkman

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Vincent Vuik

Department of History, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Deltares, Delft, the Netherlands

Bregje van Wesenbeeck

Ecosystem Management Research Group, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium

Stijn Temmerman

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• Tjeerd J. Bouma

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Z.Z., V.V., S.T. and T.J.B. conceived the idea for the paper and wrote the initial draft. Z.Z., V.V., T.S., P.J.V. and S.N.J. collected and analysed the data. All authors discussed the results and improved on the manuscript.

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Zhu, Z., Vuik, V., Visser, P.J. et al. Historic storms and the hidden value of coastal wetlands for nature-based flood defence. Nat Sustain 3 , 853–862 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0556-z

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Received : 16 October 2019

Accepted : 21 May 2020

Published : 29 June 2020

Issue Date : October 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0556-z

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To Avoid River Flooding, Go With the Flow, the Dutch Say

Extreme rainfall is causing deadly and destructive floods globally. The Netherlands averted disaster this summer by creating flood plains.

By Thomas Erdbrink

The Netherlands, accustomed to wet weather, was midway through what would become one of the wettest Julys on record, and Patrick van der Broeck was getting edgy.

Germany and Belgium were experiencing epochal floods that would ultimately kill 220 people, and the surging waters were bearing down on the low-lying Netherlands. “All the rain that falls across the border, inevitably will make its way to us,” said Mr. van der Broeck, the senior hydrologist for Limburg Province.

Earlier that month, though, Dutch officials had celebrated the completion of a new flood control project, one that turned previous such efforts on their head. Instead of further damming the Maas River and its tributaries, as conventional flood control would do, they’d decided to work with nature — diverting the waters into a 1,300-acre flood plain created to duplicate the river’s old overflow channels.

“I was nervous,” Mr. Van der Broeck said. “I wondered whether our project would hold up.”

He had reason to be. Extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common, in Europe and worldwide. The deadly torrential rain in Europe this summer was considered a 400-year event; in China, over 20 inches of rain fell in just two days; New York City set records for an hour’s rainfall, setting off flash floods that killed dozens of people in the region ; the drought-stricken American West is ablaze.

Yet no one died in the Netherlands in the July flooding. Some tributaries did wreak extensive damage in the border region, but along the Maas River, which swelled to epic proportions, large urban centers stayed safe and dry.

The Dutch are experienced in water management, having dealt with sea-level rise and river floods long before climate change became a concern. More than half the country lies beneath sea level, and while the ocean is held back by more conventional flood control methods, river management has changed drastically.

Mr. Van der Broeck’s project, Maaspark Ooijen-Wanssum , a nature preserve near the small city of Wanssum, lies at the heart of the new approach. During the flooding it did exactly what it was supposed to, absorbing so much water that levels in parts of the Maas River dropped by 13 inches, enough to avert a major disaster.

“If we hadn’t freed up the areas to reroute the excess water from the Maas River, Venlo and Roermond would have been flooded,” Mr. van der Broeck said of two regional cities. “For a long time we have worked against nature,” he said. “The river is telling us it needs more space. We shouldn’t fight that. We should cooperate with nature.”

The roots of this new thinking go back to two huge floods in the 1990s that forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. Shaken by that disaster, Dutch officials and hydrologists eventually concluded that, with major floods occurring more frequently and with greater intensity, raising barriers and digging canals was no longer enough to manage the water.

They decided to give more space to the natural flows of major rivers, instead of increasing the height of the levees. In 2007, the country began a $2.7 billion project called Room for the River that has pursued more than 30 projects along the Maas and Rhine Rivers to control flooding by creating catchment areas that often mimic the natural flood plains.

The Maaspark Ooijen-Wanssum project, finished just before the July downpour, is a prime example of this idea. An old closed-off tributary of the Maas River was reopened along water paths used for thousands of years. Some dikes were removed to allow for water to flow in when necessary; others were placed strategically to send the water through natural channels. Several houses had to be destroyed to create more overflow space and, effectively, more nature.

On a recent visit, water was present everywhere, following ancient riverbeds. Insects buzzed around, as older Dutch couples rode by on their electric bikes at the end of a rare sunny day.

Beavers, badgers and a wide variety of migratory birds now populate the park, which before the redevelopment consisted mostly of farmland. “It’s just very nice to walk here,” Mr. Van der Broeck said. “It’s an improvement on all fronts.”

The Netherlands is now filled with such catchment basins, many a boon to daily life but doubling as reservoirs for when the rivers swell.

Still, experts say, not enough is being done. While defenses against the sea are in place (but in need of constant maintenance) and catchment areas have been built along big rivers, the latest rainstorms showed that even smaller creeks, ditches and sewers can turn deadly.

“I live relatively far above the sea level, but during that storm there was so much water it was unable to exit through the sewage system, so it came up through our shower into our bedroom,” said Piet Dircke, the director of water management at Arcadis , a design and engineering consultancy that is currently helping shore up coastal flood defenses around Manhattan and helped design the new storm defenses around New Orleans that performed well during Hurricane Ida.

“A combination of extreme rain and lack of places to dispose of that water can turn small creeks into killers,” he said. “Normally, we have water shortages over the summer, so nobody imagined rain intensities and volumes of these proportions. We simply don’t have charts for such events.”

Disasters have always propelled Dutch water management. In 1953 the North Sea flood , set off by a combination of strong winds, high tides and low pressure, killed 1,835 people after dikes were breached on 67 locations in the western part of the Netherlands. In response, the Dutch embarked on a plan called Delta Works, creating massive sea defenses aimed at preventing one-in-10,000-year floods.

Since then, the government has created not only Room for Rivers but also Delta Program, which now oversees all the country’s water management issues. July’s extreme rainstorm, however, suggests it is once again time to re-evaluate the country’s water defenses, Mr. Dircke said. “Increasing dikes by 10 centimeters is useless,” he added, “and we should map sensitive places.”

By these he means hospitals, schools, nursing homes, computer server facilities and critical infrastructure — all crucial to evaluate for their vulnerability to flooding. “If an elderly care home is next to a river, we should consider replacing it, as evacuating such vulnerable people during an emergency takes up too much time,” Mr. Dircke said.

Such measures need a lot of investment, he and other experts agree. Yet, “if we do nothing, the costs will be much higher,” said Peter Glas, the head of Delta Program. He warned that if the Netherlands fails to take sufficient measures to protect critical infrastructure, credit rating companies might lower its bond rating from its current triple A status.

“Climate change is here,” Mr. Glas said. “We need to adjust. If you don’t want to do it for the planet, or for your safety, you should do it for your wallet.”

Rosanne Kropman and Ilvy Njiokiktjien contributed reporting.

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