4 ms·
As a Dutchman I can't help but see this as a sizable but not even truly problematic engineering challenge. Our entire country was basically a piece of sea / s
by mtrimpe 14y ago
As a Dutchman I can't help but see this as a sizable but not even truly problematic engineering challenge.
Our entire country was basically a piece of sea / swampland nobody else wanted, which we proceeded to turn into our own little kingdom through a massive cooperative effort.
Since large parts of our country are already below sea-level and we've already built massive flood barriers after severe floodings [1] half a century ago; it just means we'll have a bit more demand than usual for our engineering skills and we'll all be fine.
From what I heard we're already talking with New York ;)
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_Flood_of_1953 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_Flood_of_1953
- dredmorbius 14y agoYet another bit of Dutch heritage in New Amsterdam. I was thinking of the North Sea floods. As the linked Wikipedia article notes, this also struck England significantly, and was among the key impetuses behind the Thames Barrier. Noting the closure frequency of this structure (and the increasing frequency with time), and the projected replacement dates (it's actually moved back a bit, I'd recalled 2030, current estimates are 2050-2060) is interesting. Also with recent rain-triggered floods in the UK, London and southeastern England now face a double threat: rising sea levels from the oceans, and increased runoff from land. Absent active pumping to clear rainwater flows down the Thames, a Barrier itself is not a complete solution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Barrier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Barrier