100 Places To Remember: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Geschreven op 29-1-2010 - Erik van Erne. Geplaatst in Natuur
900 Years Behind Dykes, Dams and Barriers. With more than half their city lying below sea level, the people of Rotterdam have lived behind dykes and dams to protect them from the sea, storms and flooding for almost 900 years.
In fact, 55% of the whole of the Netherlands is below sea level. At 6.76 metres below sea level, the countrys lowest point is just east of Rotterdams centre, so the city is extremely sensitive to storms, floods and any rise in the sea level.
The shipping trade has been Rotterdams principal economic asset since the 1350s. Today, the city is the largest port in Europe and one of the busiest in the world, accounting for 25% of the Netherlands total emissions of CO2.
In the late 1990s, a storm-surge barrier, the Maeslantkering, was constructed to protect the city and its surrounding areas from rising sea levels and flooding. Its two huge gates, each the size of the Eiffel Tower, allow the inlet to be closed to the harbour and its hinterland. The barrier is one of the largest moving structures on Earth, and is designed to resist a five-metre rise in the water level. It closes automatically when the water level is forecast to rise to three metres above normal. According to Dutch prognoses, this should occur only once every 10 years, and once every five years from 2050.
In November 2007, 10 years after it was inaugurated, the barrier closed for the first time. Just a few years earlier, a flood had fallen a mere centimetre short of the threshold. During a major storm in 1953, a level of 3.85 metres was registered.
Although Rotterdam seems safe for the time being, climate change could cause a further rise in sea levels, extreme storms and flooding.
