This year marks the 70th anniversary of the North Sea Flood of 1953. A combination of high tides and winter storms on the evening of January 31 and the morning of February 1 resulted in a massive flood that affected England, Scotland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. It was one of the worst floods to hit the Netherlands since 1916.
The southern provinces of Zeeland and Zuid-Holland were particularly hard hit, with the highest death tolls for the country. In the province of Noord-Holland, where my father lived, Red Cross and other sources indicate that there were fewer than a dozen deaths. In addition to the dead and missing, thousands were displaced from their homes and there was massive property damage.
My father was just a boy when the flood struck, but he remembers it well. It is apparent that when he recalls his childhood in the Netherlands, it is one of his clearest memories. The Netherlands still had not yet recovered from World War II and the flood was devastating. While the reasons for emigrating are multifaceted and complex, the devastation of the flood of 1953 was one of the many things that prompted my grandparents to think about leaving the country.
While this video is in Dutch, it is the images that tell the tale. It also primarily shows the devastation in the south of the country. (“Watersnood” is “flood” and “ramp” is “disaster.)
A Deck of Ancestors 