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 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. 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, km of coastline was damaged destroying mile upon mile of sea wall and inundating , 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, homes in the UK were seriously damaged. Over 47, homes were damaged, 10, 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 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. 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.
By the s scientists had known for a generation or so that the climate had been warming for a century, and that this was causing glaciers to melt. Second, the phenomenon of tilt: the north-west and north of England was gradually rising and the south-east was gradually sinking — or downwarping — a notion that had some popular traction, especially in East Anglia. Downwarping compounded the effect of higher water levels and was also caused by climate change. At the end of the last ice age, glaciation had reached as far south as the line from the Bristol Channel to the Wash.
With the weight of ice no longer acting on northern Britain, a gradual correction was taking place — and continues to. Third, was the idea that changing weather patterns made tidal surges more likely. For all these reasons the east coast, and London particularly, faced an increasing threat from the North Sea.
Thanks to Waverley, this thinking held sway in Whitehall in the decades that followed, shaping the tortuous process that led to the construction of the Thames Barrier. But if climate change was understood to be a factor in the growing threat to the east coast, there was little suggestion that any of it was caused by human activities.
Instead, scientists pointed to the shift in and out of ice ages that occurs naturally over many thousands of years. Climate change, considered a force of nature, had yet to be politicised, even as it became a factor in policy making.
In England there were 1, breaches of sea defenses, , acres of land were flooded, 32, people were evacuated, 24, properties were damaged, 46, livestock were killed, and people died.
In the Netherlands, approximately , people were evacuated, , acres were flooded, 47, buildings were damaged, 30, livestock were killed, and 1, lives were lost. In addition, there were 17 deaths in Scotland, 22 in West Flanders, Belgium, and in vessels at sea including the lost on the Princess Victoria. 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 to protect London from future surges. Hall, Alexander. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. Please click on the images to view their individual rights status. Skip to main content. Arcadia Collection: Coastal History. Extent of the flooding on the east coast of England.
This work is used by permission of the copyright holder. One of the reasons the severe storm could cause a disaster on such a scale was the poor condition of the dykes. Many of the dykes in the south-west of the Netherlands were too low and too weak. In the preceding years the water boards had carried out little maintenance on the dykes and there had been too little investment in them. Although the national government had spent some money on flood protection, the issue had received less priority during the post-war reconstruction after Part of the reason why the disaster has gone down in history as a rare event, is the extreme water levels and the duration of the storm, which lasted more than 24 hours.
After the disaster, the damage had to be repaired. The national government paid for the repair of the breached dykes and coordinated the operation. Thousands of workers and more than 4, troops, including some from other countries, joined forces to repair the dykes.
On 6 November , 9 months after the disaster, the final hole in the dyke system was sealed in Ouwerkerk on the island of Schouwen-Duiveland in Zeeland. Aid operations were organised in the Netherlands and other countries to help the affected areas.
The Red Cross played an important role in these efforts. Donations of money, goods and clothing poured in from around the world. Dutch footballers played a friendly international match against France to raise money for the flood victims. Much of the Netherlands lies below sea level.
The disaster of demonstrated more clearly than ever the importance of protecting the country properly against flooding. Stricter safety standards were adopted for primary flood barriers.
The barriers were raised to the minimum height the so-called Delta height as prescribed in the Delta Act required to protect the Netherlands against flood tides and money is still invested every year to further strengthen the flood defences. The Delta Works were built by Rijkswaterstaat to protect the Netherlands against flooding.
In total, the Delta Works consist of 3 sluices, 6 dams and 6 storm surge barriers. Storm surge barriers are moveable flood barriers at river mouths, tidal inlets and estuaries which close, automatically or otherwise, when water levels are extremely high. Flood protection is a never-ending task in this country. One of the ways we raise awareness and keep people informed is with news reports on our website and our social media channels.
0コメント