This is a post we also did for The Wilderness Classroom.
Have you ever tried to build barriers to protect a
sandcastle from waves on an ocean beach? At a much bigger scale, this is the
same problem The Netherlands faces (The Netherlands is sometimes called
Holland and people from the Netherlands are the Dutch). Almost half the country is either below sea
level or less than 3 feet above sea level.
The three largest cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague) are all in
these low-lying regions.
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| Building a sand castle in a flood prone area |
While in the Netherlands, we visited the Zuiderzee (pronounced
zow-der zay) Museum, to see an exhibit about floods in Dutch history. We were amazed at the number of serious floods
the country has experienced. To protect their country from floods, the Dutch
have built many dikes, barriers, and pumps.
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| List of serious floods in Dutch history at Zuiderzee Museum |
