A severe North Sea storm surge coinciding with spring tides overtopped and breached dikes across Zeeland, South Holland and North Brabant. Around 1,836 people died in the Netherlands, more than 70,000 were evacuated and large areas of the delta were inundated. The catastrophe exposed the neglect of flood defences and prompted immediate national resolve to act. A state commission was convened within weeks.
The 1953 disaster directly triggered the Delta Works and reset Dutch flood-safety policy for the post-war era.
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