Andrew Hiscock says the Netherlands’ handling of flooding in 1953 has stood it in good stead. Plus letters from John Sergeant and Michael Heaton
In the Netherlands, much of which is below sea level, we have not had a single square metre of flooding since 1953 (‘Homes may have to be abandoned’: how climate crisis has reshaped Britain’s flood risk, 31 January). In that year, a storm surge erupted in the North Sea, engulfing much of East Anglia as well as the Dutch province of Zeeland. The Dutch built the Delta Works to fix this; the English did nothing.
Years of investment in land reclamation and flood-defence experience were brought into play. The Netherlands handles the delta/distributaries of two of Europe’s greatest rivers – the Rhine (Rijn) and the Meuse (Maas). I live five metres from a major inland waterway and the level does not change. My cousin lives in Somerset (twinned with Atlantis) and is already on his third flooding of 2026.
