Day 55 - Veere

Cruised all night again and arrived at the lovely little village of Veere about 9.00 am.  

Went on a tour of the Delta Project where storm surge gates have been installed to stop flooding of half the country as happened in 1953.  This massive project consisting of more than 12 walls, dams and barriers was commenced in 1960 and completed in 1997.  The last storm surge gates at Zeeland cost over 8 billion $US alone.  Funding was from the European Union.

The next project is an endeavour to convert the salt water canals and dams to fresh water, so that it can be used for irrigation.  The plausibility of this seems impossible to us.

These intriguing buildings in Veere are slowly being converted into shops. The large building on the right is the museum.

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We are on the south west coast of the Netherlands, where small ferries like this transport people and bikes between the low lying islands that make up much of this country.   50% of the Netherlands is approximately one metre below sea level. 

These are one group of Storm Surge Gates that protect the Netherlands from major floods.

Wind generators as well as some trial hydro power are used around the Delta area.

This is the cross section of the surge wall and gates.

The black steel structure on the left is one of the actual gates that are lowered in times of a high surge of ocean water into the delta area.

There is ample evidence of the old windmills that were used in the past.

This is a photo of a dike that failed in 1953.  Attempts were made using manual labour to repair this one.  Dikes were destroyed in 67 places and breached in over 400.    1,835 people drowned and 72,000 needed to be evacuated.