What I love is that the Maaslandkering was 'a waste of money' for 10 years, until 1 storm and it saved so many lives. It's the perfect example of 'better to have and not need than need and not have'

For us dutchies, you have the levels of storms; Regular storms with their winds: fun on the beach Storms with warnings from the weather station: maybe not take a windy day on the beach Storms that have the oosterscheldekering close: allright, make sure everything is secure Storms that have *determinately* close the oosterscheldekering: check trees close to the house that look sickly Storms that close the maeslandkering: 'shit this is big', pray to god

A nice quote found in the middle of the Oosterscheldekering: "Hier gaan over het tij, de maan, de wind en wij.". which translates as: "Here the tide is ruled, by the moon, the wind and us.". I mean.. Fuck yeah!

I had a colleague who studied civil engineering at Delft during the building of the Delta works. He told me that it involved the invention of new forms of mathematics, new forms of describing fluid dynamics and new materials like underwater concrete and mats that had never been built before on the specifications set. It is truly comparable to space travel in its complexity but as a whole even bigger than that in its hugeness. I deeply feel that I should be grateful for those who decided to put so much money in for such a long time in such a small country.

I’m Dutch and live in the region of Rotterdam. I have worked on the “Maeslantkering” during it’s construction back in 1997 I believe. Worked on the fiber optic connections between the north and south control rooms. Back than I was very impressed with the structure. It is even more massive when you see your car parked underneath the swing arm. And now, about 25 years later, I am still impressed, but also very proud to have worked on one of the biggest water works in the world.

The most incredible thing that even most people here in the Netherlands don't realise is how interconnected every system is with the neighbouring ones. Working together as one country sized nature control system. From the giants structures at sea, to the multiple layers of dikes behind dikes, the systems to lower the waterlevels as the land slopes down the further you go inland. Fail safes that guide the water to farmlands instead of cities if something would ever break & even the smaller things, like having sufficient grass & trees around asphalted & building areas so the soil can absorb rainwater. Think about it: if it rains somewhere else the water would just flow to the lower parts till it hits the ocean. That doesn't work here as we're situated lower than the North Sea. Recently our biggest water challenge has actually not come from the sea, but our mountainous neighbours where the permafrost turns out to be not so permanent. Filling up the rivers downstream. Making its way to the lowest point, which for us is our streets... Not the sea...

We may focus on the biggest floodgates and they are Impressive, as in bigger then you can imagine. But the funny thing is; even the smallest gate is a crucial part of the whole defense system against the floods.

My uncle actually worked on the Oosterscheldekering during its construction period! I asked what the most memorable experience was, and he said: "the coffee" lmao. I live in such a way that when i look outside, i can see multiple of these barriers on the sea, behind eachother. It's amazing.

My great grandfather used to go on his bicycle from Wildervank in the province Groningen to Zurich to the to be build Afsluitdijk... a total of 130 kilometers (roughly 6 hours 30 minutes), just to go work and build the Afsluitdijk with fellow workers. 💪😎👍

About hiding in the polders during WWII. After building dikes and dry pumping the land in between, reeds were sown to make arable land from the drained seabed. This reed grew for years to create organic matter and desalt the soil. After this the soil was suitable for arable farming. So it was temporarily a large reed marsh in which you could hide.

It's not a bridge it's a dam. And you should really visit it one day Highly. They are so impressive to see, it makes one feel quite humble, to stand upon it and look down to those massive giant doors beneath.... Wonderful engineering. And it's not only the sea that's threatening us, it's the so-called great rivers as well.

hearing this guy say afsluitdijk cracks me up everytime lol

I live in Almere, in Flevoland. Since I live here the ground around my house (street, sidewalk and everything you can think of) was heightened by about two feet and now it's again up for such thing. The ground still sinks.

Simon Whistler is an absolute star in explaning subject and stories. Thumbs Up.

10:50 i live for 20 years in Lelystad (Flevoland) and we have sometimes some storms wich are as heavy as at our coast at zandvoort, ijmuiden scheveningen etc. Because our province lays direct to 2 massive lakes. We haven't had 1 day without wind. So i could almost say we live at the coast... my grandpa helpt making Flevoland a succes by farming the land to be used as farm land later on and he helpt with other things. like with animals

My grand father used to work on dikes as a woodworker, my father as an engineer on the dams, me as an IT man on the software for the automatic closing of dams.

That is so interesting the counting three vingers, I didn't know in the US it was the three middle vingers, in Asia it is the three last digits of the vingers (pinky, ringvinger and middle vinger ..in that order, as I learned from my Indonesian father) and in Europe it is thumb, index and then middle vinger...that is an amazing discovery 🤣

I worked on a small part of the Maeslantkering. It's an amazing structure that is basically a giant autonomous robot. Watching all the measurements in the area and out at sea (and in the river) and forecasts to decide when to close. The balancing act is very hard, because it should close when really needed, but when it closes is also shuts down one of the busiest harbors of the world for about a day. So closing will cause a substantial amount of economic damage, which is acceptable if you prevent a flood (which would have been worse), but hurts if it was actually not needed.

Lol, 2:22 that bridge and thing at 2:22 with the words DELTA WORKS over it, is within walking distance of my house. It's the first part ever built of the delta works. it's still operational and a few years ago a boat rammed into it (and it was fine xd ) Funny thing is, when this 'stormwering' is down, the pub I frequent floods a littl'. On stormy days I take 2 binbags with me to the pub, just in case the area get's flooded and the water hasn't recieded by the time I want to go home xD

Yes, a lot of resistance fighters and jewish people hid in the polders. My mother's family lived in the eastern part of the Haarlemmermeer polder, near Aalsmeer (flower auction). There is a maze of greenhouses there were people could hide. A favourite tactic was trying to sell white Calla lilies for German graves to the Nazi's to keep them busy while someone else ran down the dike to tell the people to hide. Worked most of the time!

with 1953 flood i remember a story from my grandma saying that in my town(fishing town in the province of Utrecht that used to be linked to the Zuiderzee/Southern Sea(this part is now called Eemmeer(Eemlake) after the small river Eem) when the flood came in fishing boats(botters) came up from the port and on to the street and i have seen a picture at the historical museum of one boat being stuck in a house

The Hartelkering is a 10 minute walk from my home. And I never looked when it was closed because it only happens when not even the bevers want to go outside, not the dogs and certainly not me. Then again, glad it's there and I see this part of one of the modern seven world wonders quite a lot just because I was born and live near it.

A dam serves as protection against water/control water, a bridge does not.

It's fun to see that the measlandkeering is so special for most people. But for me it's just a urgly object in the back garden 🤣 but I'm happy with it because without me house is not existing 😅🏡

Did he mention Lelystad as the largest town in Flevoland? I think he forgot about Almere with more than 200.000 inhabitants.

These lowlying pieces of land are also the most fertile for cattle and agriculture... Which makes them very attractive.

Just wanted to let you know Rijkswaterstaat, the departement responsible for the Deltawerken tested al 62 gates of the Oosterscheldekering passed evening in preperation of the coming stormseason. And it totaly worked as it should 😊

You should look up more about the actual construction. They were created much like the Mulberry harbors in Normany: prefab floating elements that were towed in position, then sunken and sealed. We created an island in the middle of the waterway where they would be placed, and made that island one big construction site. Several drydocks next to eachother, and one section would be build in each, in different fases, so every construction crew would specialize in one stage, build that one in a drydock, then move to the adjecent one starting a new one, and the second fase crew would continue in their place ,and so on. When one was finished, the drydock would be flooded, the section towed out, and a new cycle would begin... Just because we had the stamina to go on this long didn't mean we lost eye of efficiency... Look it up: Neeltje Jans. It is now an integrated part of the dam and the motorway goes straight over it. It is also a museum, with one section mid-construction still in a drydock.

Thats where I live aan the river the ijssel. Last week Hollandsche IJsselkering was closed, due to the storm.

they always forget to mention "de watersnoodsramp" the disaster that flooded a huge part of the country, was in the winter. And it was freeeeeeeeeezing cold.

On the pronunciation comment in the beginning: We dutch will absolutely let people know they pronounce something wrong and might share a laugh about it with you. But we'll love you for trying every single time. :D

I live near the Algera Bridge in Krimpen (one town over). Most times the bridge lights up a purple-ish blue. There are still people in my town that remember the flood of 53'.

17 million euro a year coms downto about 15 cent per month for each tax payer. not a bad deal for protections like that

For your information.. The province of Flevoland has more than 80k people, the capital city is Lelystad with 84k people, but the city of Almere has over 226k inhabitants and has several other smal city's/ villages. Many greedz from a Dutch citizen, keep up the good work.. love your show !

I am so proud that I am Dutch and can live in this beautiful beautiful country. when I see this on film. i love my country

Dude, you are such a happy enthusiastic guy, awesome!! Makes me feel better about my country!

To quote: "we know our language is a special kind of torture to try and pronounce for native speakers of most other languages. And we find it hilarious. >:-)" And I couldn't agree more.

I live near the haringvlietdam. The floating from 1953 always had my interest when i was a kid. I was born in a village which floated in 1953 (8.42 in your video), so there were a lot of memorials and musea about that subject. My mom was 4 years old at that time and lived in rotterdam, she had to go up to the roof to be safed. And my husbands granddad moved over to the place we live now to work at the Deltawerken, so lucky for me otherwise I probably would have never met my husband 😉

clog machines? honestly, makes sense, but I've only ever seen them being hand made. One guy even did it all with just a chainsaw

They are "Upgrading" the afsluitdijk atm :D

At 9:11 -----> Remembers me of Inglourious Basterds, a 2009 war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and the well-thought-out espionage plan turned into a bloodbath because they didn't know that the European gesture for 3 is different from the United States. \0/ At 17:10 ---> Underwater, of course, otherwise it makes no sense. Then it would be called a bridge. It takes a lot of money to keep our feet dry, but what worries me more is where we're going to get the bright minds who can handle this immeasurable technology to secure the future of our country.

19:36 The massive concrete elements during construction.

10:00 It didn’t create jobs. 1929: Black Tuesday just happened and the Netherlands were in an economic crisis. The Afsluitdijk was a ‘werkverschaffingsproject’. Unemployed people were forced to work on the Afsluitdijk. Like a kind of Roosevelt New Deal project

The Netherlands is the combined river delta of some of Europe's biggest rivers and this area has been populated for thousands of years because the land is fertile and rich. Flooding was never really a problem until the population started expanding and people starting building cities close to the rivers and sea and on natural flood planes. They also started draining more land for farming and at some point where the water used to flood open land every 100 years. suddenly there were people there and dikes and the water could only go one way... up and over. So in a way the Dutch only solved a problem that they caused to begin with and it had been a long time coming...

The best clogs are done by hand. Probably the machine spits out the touristy ones that never will be worn. Or the crude form will be done by the machine and the finishing touches will be done by hand. I don't know, i am just guessing. For real i also thought it was done by hand because i never heard or saw a machine doing it.

i actually worked on the hydraulic systems of the delta works for maintance and its large as hell and cool to look at.

I can relate because I have lived in Rotterdam and now I live in Krimpen aan den IJssel. Love to see the Algerabrug (Algera bridge). At I agree that Dutch people are smart especially by discovering the Stormvloedkering 👍👏that’s why I’am not scared and feel safe to live in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 thank you.

Lelystad the biggest city?? Almere got more than 200.000 people

It's not a bridge.. it's a dam!

The Dutch are the masters of water management.

Thanks for sharing this, Dutch by birth but now in the uk..

@ 11:02 you can see the pillars of your ‘bridge’ from the last video.

That is an interedting channel. They often have great videos and i love the voice of the man

me father works on de delta works, i remember being in the vacation on the island Neeltje Jans for 6 weeks in the summer holliday while me father was working.

I have worked at this bariers in our factory as a metal turner . And I live in Krimpen aan den IJssel.

to be fair.... most of the time that dam is a bridge (as the doors are normally open)

New polders- - as said - are planted with plants, mostly reeds ...... these reeds can grow taller than a man, so if you hide in the new polder you'll e hard to find

Hello from the Netherlands and thanks for the Highly

Naive souls think of meandering rivers and seaview. Delta regions so the final tract of rivers deposit minerals and other basic necessities for growth, making deltas the most fertile grounds, the fact there is water as well for irrigating and watering the crops is additionally convenient. Sinking of Delta regions will rob the world of a lot of extremely fertile regions, and the fact it's logistically and logically wise to live close to these regions, a 10th of the world's populace actually lives in these Delta regions. Flooding of these regions will destroy farming areas providing a huge area and population share it's food, and will displace 10+% of the population.

"That's a lot of dammed land" Ha..!

this .... this makes me very proud to be a dutchy

"it's not a bridge"... -it's a damn dam 😁

Goosebumps throughout

Its not build to go from one side to the other side, that was just convenient. It’s about keeping the water out.

4:55 @highly Combustible Reacts... LOL... i bet the same people as the ones who built on San Andreas Fault 😜

New Orleans had ridiculous sea defences...tiny concrete walls enough to stop a cat... to stop an ocean...lol..

"Along the northern region of Holland, 13 mayor projects along with (..)" Proceeds to show a map of Zeeland and a little bit of Zuid-Holland. Mate that is not *north*. South is even in the name of one of those provinces.

Our relative sea level is only going up by 1.8mm/y or 18cm/century. Most of that is due to our country still sinking since the last ice age.

The Deltawerken is a a genius construction of water locks

Somehow referring to my country as 'Holland' always rubs me the wrong way...it's like referring to the USA as Carolina, not North or South, just Carolina 🤣

The northern part of holland? Right... the delta works are basicly as south as you can get, while still being at sea...

its the dam where the bicycle race took place

Counting on hand .use the thumb as three towards having meaning..like, grasp hold, maintain.third ,last,out,done?Make Life Count.

Nice comment and assuming it is “ people like to build near dangerous places” I have to add .. the Dutch where already there before they could build something.

It is not only sea level rising in Holland. But also the fact that we are lowering the water level in the whole country year round. Wich causes the bottom to sink, making the effect even greater. But still, there is not an increase in speed of sea level risen sofar.

The actual translation is storm surge barrier

what a lot of people dont realise the advanced civilication and city of atlantis has not yet sunk. the story was just written ahead of time.

ah yes, Simon, youtube fact boi. He has so many interesting videos on diffrent channels.,Brain Blaze is my favorite at the moment, but he does so much more

:D That's 3 in english You are doing 3 the german way That's how Ingloriuos Basterds turned foul when the british idiots ordered 3 pints the wrong way and blew his cover

lol i use my thumb in one to tree aswel X D im simply not able to stretch my ringvinger without lifting my pinky aswel so its one two four.....and thumb for three X D or 1 since i often start the count with my thumb.

When I was a young boy, we went on a tourbus. To show around. The amazing big concrete. Pillars of the moving wall against the sea. When it was still a dry dock. I never forget. But with climate change, I am not sure this is enough. Sealevel is rising.

Knowing my fellow countrymen a bit. I think more people will comment about naming our country Holland then pronouncing the correct Dutch pronouncatio . Our country is officially the Netherlands (and no, the Netherlands is not an alias for Holland, but rather otherway around). But no doubt this is mentioned multiple times in the comments of the original video 🤣).

The Dutch have not been fighting a non existing climate change problem. Our country is mostly below sea level, so of course we want to keep our feet dry, and need something to make that happen.

Frysia thought of that,they pushed south to fight back invaders and started controlling land,and it grew from there.

The Dutch are looking a 100 year plus with whatever they are building. In that way they are protecting their people then by acting now. I wish we would have the same global sense for climate change!

A riverdelta is one of the most fertile spots to grow crops. So yeah, it's very logical to live there. Only in oldentimes (you would migrate with the river, as the river "moved". Now we have to much inmovable objects to do that. We are to densely populated to move in such a way.

The new Polders were full of 15 meter high reeds...

Hey! Just a question out of curiosity: Would you consider visiting the Netherlands once it will be more available to go sightseeing again?

11:42 i was born in lelystad. Lived about 22 years there. I'm almost 32

Did that guy in the clip say Nothern part of Holland??? No,no,no,no,no That guy is telling you all sorts of crap. That not the North...thats the South-west. . The Afsluitdijk is more to the north.

Btw, not Lelystad but Almere is the biggest city in the new land.

Deltawerken are one of the world wonders.

how the guy pronounces lelystad 😆im dieing

Each of the arms of the maeslandkering is about as long as the eiffel tower is high.

The name of this country is NETHERLANDS and never HOLLAND. We do have twelve provinces (FRIESLAND, GRONINGEN, DRENTHE, OVERIJSSEL, NOORD-HOLLAND, ZUID-HOLLAND, UTRECHT, GELDERLAND, FLEVOLAND, NOORD-BRABANT, ZEELAND, LIMBURG. PS. Inhabitants in Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland can tell they are allowed to say Ï am from Holland"

This is what you can do with tax payment. You can build something like this. In America there are bridges that are in a terrible state. Why, tax payments are low. In the Netherlands we have one of the best highways because we pay a lot of taxes. It's a choice. We can drive smoothly over the highway without being thrown through your car.

The 1-2-3-finger usage… it’s a American/Europe difference…. Nice example in the movie Inglorious Bastards.. in the cafe scene…. The German officer sees that the group where not Europeans 😅😅

"The name 'The Netherlands', the alternative used for 'Holland'" Hmmm, it's more like the other way around :)

Ok so actualy they clossed the flood Gates of the oosterscheldekering a few weeks ago because of storm corry. I have lived in zeeland all my life i still get impressed and proud of/by the oosterscheldekering it kinda hits different when you are there tho.

There is a bridging road ON TOP OF the delta works ;-)))