A storm is a brewing
Stormy day today as we visited the Maeslantkering, the last stage in the rather huge ‘Stormvloedkering’ project in the Netherlands.
After Holland was hit with fierce floodings in 1953, it was decided the Dutch needed to control the high waters threatening the coastline. Many waterworks, sluices and more were the result and only a couple of years ago was the last part of this immense project finalized. This was the Maeslantkering (website), two huge ‘arms’ that close of the Nieuwe Waterweg when there’s a storm coming.
The arms, in fact, are about as long as the Eifeltower is tall. They’re also about 25 meters high. Impressive stuff. But although there was a storm brewing today, the water level still had to rise about 60cm before they would have closed the gates.
Betsy’s brother and sister in law showed up yesterday and staid for the weekend. So not only did we visit the Maeslantkering, yesterday we went to Scheveningen to drink coffee watching the waves hit the coastline.