This was another ship related excursion and for someone like me, who loves major construction…read moreprojects, it was heavenly.. The first thing we saw when we walked into the visitor center was the skeleton of a mammoth that had been unearthed during construction of the Delta Works. http://media2.ct.yelpcdn.com/photo/fTk-twKk-NUpScAITT6BXw/l It was a very cool, very complete skeleton. There was an exhibit of the 2000 year history of the Netherlands' battle w/ the North Sea. After wandering through the exhibit we saw a half hour film about the Great Flood of 1953, which inundated 2/3 of the country, twice a day because of the tides, for NINE months! At that point the plans for the storm surge barrier were laid. Rather than give you the details here, I'll just include their website: http://www.deltawerken.com/Deltaworks/23.html There was one leftover tower from the construction project which is in a field across from the visitor center and is used to teach climbing and firefighting techniques, if I'm remembering correctly. There's a waterpark--mostly for kids, I think--on the same property but we didn't visit it.
After the film we went through the gift shop filled w/ overpriced junk and then continued by bus to the Delta Works itself. It was a massive project, w/ 62 40 meter wide gates suspended between tall towers. The gates can be lowered mechanically if very stormy seas are predicted. We were able to walk through the structure and then to climb a series of stairs up to the top. Inside the structure were explanatory exhibit and our guide gave us further information. The project was competed 25 years ago and has been used three times since, successfully. It's tested regularly to make sure it's mechanically fit. The expectation is that it will have to be rebuilt in the future, using technology that has been developed since. You can be sure the Dutch are paying attention to the issue of climate change and will be factoring that into their plans. The hope and expectation is that what's in place now will be adequate to protect the country from the rise in the sea that's currently predicted.
