Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 2673–2684, 2015 www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/19/2673/2015/ doi:10.5194/hess-19-2673-2015 © Author(s) 2015. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Flooding in river mouths: human caused or natural events? Five centuries of flooding events in the SW Netherlands, 1500–2000 A. M. J. de Kraker VU-University, CLUE (Research Institute for the Heritage and History of the Cultural Landscape and Urban Environment), De Boelelaan 1081 HV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands Correspondence to: A. M. J. de Kraker ([email protected]) Received: 4 December 2014 – Published in Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss.: 30 January 2015 Revised: 21 April 2015 – Accepted: 29 April 2015 – Published: 9 June 2015 Abstract. This paper looks into flood events of the past archipelago consisting of islands on which many small pold- 500 years in the SW Netherlands, addressing the issue of ers were interwoven with dikes into one big patchwork of what kind of flooding events have occurred and which ones defences. As the area borders the southern North Sea, tidal have mainly natural causes and which ones are predomi- water is funnelled into the delta daily, some of which could nantly human induced. The flood events are classified into reach dangerously high levels during winter time. Since me- two major categories: (a) flood events that were caused dur- dieval times the area has been exploited, providing people ing storm surges and (b) flood events which happened dur- with their livelihood, such as farming, peat cutting and fish- ing warfare. From both categories a selection of flood events ing. At points in time the area was also a theatre of war dur- has been made. Each flood event is discussed in terms of ing which a strategy of flooding was applied, which also ad- time, location, extent of the flooded area and specific con- versely affected the landscape. Therefore the main research ditions. Among these conditions, specific weather circum- question of this paper is to investigate how many of the stances and how long they lasted, the highest water lev- flooding events have natural causes and how many are a re- els reached and dike maintenance are discussed as far as sult of anthropogenic interference. As the list of flooding flood events caused during storm surges are concerned. Flood events in the area is too long, the focus will be on the major events during warfare as both offensive and defensive strate- 16th century flooding events, in particular three cases from gies are relevant; the paper demonstrates that although the the 17th and 18th century, and the two major flooding events strategic flood events obviously were man-made, the natural of the mid-20th century. feature, being the use of fresh water or sea water, of these events also played a major role. Flood events caused during storm surge may have an obvious natural cause, but the extent 2 Background of the flooding and damage it caused was largely determined by man. Since AD 1000 local communities – at that time still living on low dwelling mounds – began to build low dikes in the archipelago of the mouths of the rivers Meuse, Eastern and Western Scheldt. Gradually small islands were extended and 1 Introduction some were joined into even bigger ones by dikes and dams. Many centuries later islands such as Schouwen and Duiv- In this paper five centuries of flooding events in the SW eland, but also Goeree and Overflakkee, became bigger is- Netherlands are analysed. This former delta area is domi- lands. On every island settlements were founded and on the nated by the mouths of the rivers Meuse, Eastern and West- major islands towns rose. ern Scheldt (van de Spek, 1997). It is comprised of the Dutch This coastal area was attractive for settlement because of province of Zeeland, the western section of North Brabant its natural resources. The clay soil was very fertile and suit- and the region south of Rotterdam (Fig. 1). The area was an able for arable farming and, where areas remained under the Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 2674 A. M. J. de Kraker: Flooding in river mouths: human caused or natural events? too close to dikes, the process of land subsidence continued unabated. The alternative was to cut peat at low tide in the saltmarsh or flooded areas. On the one hand, the sea had contributed much to build- ing the landscape of the archipelago in terms of clay soils and salt in the peat layers; on the other hand, it also had its downside. Contemporaries building dikes could determine how high and how broad its base had to be, but storm events towards gale force (8–9 Beaufort) or even storm force (10– 11 Beaufort) could not be foreseen. As the wind turned to the northwesterly direction and coincided with New Moon or Full Moon, water levels could be pushed up to a level of more than 0.5 m above the highest dike levels, causing flood- ing with dikes levels varying from 3.85 to 4.95 m (Van de Ven, 1993; De Kraker, 2005). As the water of the North Sea was not only funnelled into the southern North Sea but fur- Figure 1. The former archipelago of the mouths of River Western ther upstream into the mouths of the rivers Meuse, Eastern Scheldt, Eastern Scheldt and River Meuse. The study area in the and Western and Scheldt, polders lying at the far end needed box consists of the Dutch provinces of Zeeland, the western part of to have higher dikes than those located at the river mouths. North Brabant and the area south of Rotterdam. It was not until the mid-19th century that it became pos- sible to foresee how the weather would turn and what the levels of daily high water levels, in particular spring tide lev- influence of the tides, there was sheep farming (Verhulst, els, would be. From that period onwards hydraulic engineers 1995, 64–76). As the process of land reclamation developed, regularly monitored and measured top levels of all the dikes local communities were joined by big investors such as feu- in the area and made plans to improve them. Making plans dal lords, monasteries and hospitals located in towns such as is one thing, but implementing them on all the so-called free Ghent and Bruges. As the medieval period ended, land recla- polders, which were completely autonomous, was another. mation and dike building were predominantly undertaken by Generally the administration of such polders chose to govern big investors (de Kraker, 2011a, b). Their main task was to their polder and maintain their dikes at the cheapest price, maintain the dikes in order to keep out the outside water and rather than spending “spoilt” money on raising top levels of to maintain a network of ditches with a sluice in order to dis- dikes mainly aimed at pleasing the tax paying landowners. charge the polders of fresh water on the inside. Long-term This radically changed after the major flooding of 1953. water discharge of polders meant a gradual drop in surface level, because of the thick layer of peat in the subsoil that compacted at several locations. 3 Materials and methods Next to farming, these thick peat layers were also a sec- ond major natural resource of the archipelago. Large peat- This paper builds on ongoing multi-disciplinary research into bogs had formed since 5000 BC in a fresh water environ- how the landscape of the study area has changed during the ment protected from the North Sea by a system of coastal past five centuries. This consists of extensive research of doc- barriers on one hand, while on the other hand the ground- umentary evidence which can be subdivided into the fol- water table slowly rose corresponding to a slowly rising sea lowing categories. Documents relate to land ownership and level. The flow of water through the rivers Scheldt and Meuse land use, such as manorial accounts of which monasteries contributed to the expansion of the peatbog area (Baeteman, and nobility are most important. Accounts of the mainte- 2013; Weerts, 2013). After the 3rd century AD peat growth nance of sea defence such as dikes, dunes and sluices which was interrupted by large-scale flooding. This affected the were controlled by the many water boards in the area. If pre- peat in two ways. At some places it was removed by clay de- served, each single polder had to keep an annual account posits; in most places, however, peat was penetrated by sea of dike maintenance. Correspondence of various stakehold- water and covered by a fresh clay layer. Peat could therefore ers in flooded areas and local administrations and provin- be used for two purposes: fuel and salt extraction (de Kraker cial governments are of interest, as well as historical maps et al., 2008). At the end of the medieval period some twenty made after flooding events. All of this documentary evidence towns were active in making salt from peat, employing thou- provides information on flooding events and specific details sands of workers (de Kraker, 2007). It meant that in vast ar- about how, where and when flooding happened, what was eas peat was cut and therefore the original surface level of the the extent of the damage and how this could be repaired. For old polders dropped (Borger, 1992; van Dam, 2001). In spite some flooding events (1715 and more recent ones), specific of regulations forbidding entrepreneurs to cut peat in polders damage assessment reports were made.