Delta Works

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Netherlands: Delta Works flood-control project

See how the Netherlands combats rising sea levels with the Delta Project and its Eastern Schelde Dam

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Science & Tech

Delta Works

engineering project, Netherlands

Also known as: Delta Plan, Delta Project, Deltawerken

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Oosterscheldedam

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Category: Science & Tech

Also called:: Delta Project

Dutch:: Deltawerken

Date:: 1986 - present

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Delta Works, in the southwestern Netherlands, a giant flood-control project that closed off the Rhine, Meuse [Maas], and Schelde estuaries with dikes linking the islands of Walcheren, Noord-Beveland, Schouwen, Goeree, and Voorne and created what amounts to several freshwater lakes that are free of tides. Devised by the Dutch engineer Johan van Veen, the plan acquired great urgency after a catastrophic North Sea flood on February 1, 1953, which killed 1,836 people and devastated 2,070 square km (800 square miles) of land in the southwestern Netherlands. Construction of the Delta Works began shortly thereafter and was completed in 1986. The ...(100 of 402 words)

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