The North Sea flood, Holland
The North Sea flood of 1953 caused the most severe storm-surge disaster in the North Sea during the 20th century. The storm surge occurred during the night between 31 January and 1 February 1953 and affected large parts of the coastline, especially in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and to some extent also in Belgium. The North Sea coasts of West Germany and Denmark were also affected by the storm. North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland, 1953
“A last strip of daylight falls across her peaceful face before the brown coffin is closed. With a welding torch, the number 20 is burned onto the upper part of the lid. It means that Oude Tonge has prepared its twentieth flood victim for the grave. Yet the surging sea still conceals three hundred dead in this town alone, which normally has three thousand inhabitants. Normally, Oude Tonge is also an idyll. But when the North Sea broke through the protective dikes and hurled itself over fertile fields, dollhouse-bright buildings, sleeping people, and resting livestock, this little town on the island of Overflakkee in southern Holland became an inferno.”
Excerpt from a text by Karl E. Hillgren
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North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
The only survivor. The farmhands drowned. The animals in the barn drowned, with one exception: a cow that, on a narrow staircase, made its way one floor up into the farmhouse. North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland, 1953. -
North Sea flood, the last supper, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953
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North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953
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The only survivor. The farmhands drowned. The animals in the barn drowned, with one exception: a cow that, on a narrow staircase, made its way one floor up into the farmhouse. North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland, 1953. -
North Sea flood, the last supper, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953 -
North Sea flood, Oude Tonge, Holland 1953
