During our stay in Rotterdam, we hired a car and spent the day driving around various parts of the Delta Works. The Delta Works are a series of dams, sluices and storm surge barriers constructed to protect a significant part of the southwest of the Netherlands from the sea.
The motivation to construct the Delta Works came about after a large flood in 1953 that killed over 1,800 people in the Netherlands. One of the highlights of the day was visiting a museum dedicated to the floods that was housed in the top of one of the caissons used to close one of the last holes in the dike formed during the flood.
The Eastern Schelde storm surge barrier was impressive. It has a 4km stretch of huge sluice gates that allow the saltwater to still pass through but can be closed when needed.
