| Subject: Zeeland+Deltaworks |
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I found a reasonable web site on the Deltaworks: http://www.deltawerken.com
made by a group of students, I believe. The flood of '53 was a major catastrophe
in the country. I was very young, 6 years old at the time, but remember
still vividly how it impacted the country. As many others, my mother was
very active in assembling relief, clothes, food. After her first trip
to Kruiningen, the village they had adopted, she came back with a heart-rendering
story of a mother and daughter who had taken refuge on the rooftop of
their farmhouse. The mother couldn't swim, the daughter could. The water
ascended. The mother urged the daughter to go for it, the daughter refused.
Then the mother suggested they sing a psalm. After the psalm the mother
pushed the daughter in the water. When the daughter looked back, she saw
a wave sweep her mother off the roof. I'm not religious, but whenever
I hear that psalm, I'm moved to tears.
More than half of Holland lies below sea level. The sea to Holland is a friend, but also a fearsome enemy. Frieda |