Tim Soens | Lightnews

Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social · 17d

History matters, for those who read Dutch, see my article in @standaard.be today

Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social · 17d

So, after 1953 in the Netherlands, 1962 in Germany and 1976 in Belgium, the 'floodable' dikes were abandoned, and 'strong' embankments were built which would offer a 'final solution' to the storm surge problem. Which they did not of course.

Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social · 17d

It probably was the way forward, but the population behind the dikes was hardly aware of the fact that they were prone to flooding and people started living and working in the floodplains as if seawalls protected them.

Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social · 17d

Population was at risk as never before. So, the problem was NOT the 'inferior' flood protection infrastructure, which needed 'modernization'. In Belgium in the 1960s flood protection was based on the idea of 'floodable' or 'submersible' dikes, which in 2026 sounds very innovative.

Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social · 17d

But why were the mid-20th century storm surges so devastating? Because the floodplains had changed dramatically: dredging estuaries for the ports of Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg, London AND developing industries, residential areas etc. in flood prone areas.

Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social · 17d

Moreover, in the past, there have also been periods in which major storm surges happened less frequently: the 19th century was also notoriously 'calm': after 1825 no major flood disaster caused by a storm surge happened in the North Sea Area...

Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social · 17d

Not really. First of all, we don't know whether we are better prepared for a storm surge like 1953, because on many places the water levels of 1953 (or 1962, or 1976 depending on the exact location) have never been reached again.

Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social · 17d

It was the last of the North Sea Storm Surges which caused widescale damage, following 1962 in Hamburg, 1953 in Zeeland, but also 1928, 1916, 1906... Afterwards, there is 50 years of 'calm', or rather the triumph of modern engineering, finally protecting us from storm surges?

Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social · 17d

50 years ago, January 3th 1976, a violent North Sea Storm Surge caused large-scale flooding, especially in Belgium and Germany - where it is known as the Capella-Orkan, named after the Capella, a DDR-cargo ship which sank in the storm. Why should we remember this? www.standaard.be/opinies/wat-...

Wat we 50 jaar later kunnen leren van de ramp in Ruisbroek

Er zijn altijd alternatieven, schrijft Tim Soens. Na de overstroming in Ruisbroek, in 1976, werden oplossingen terzijde geschoven die nu nog zouden kunnen dienen.

www.standaard.be

sociammulb.bsky.social @sociammulb.bsky.social · Sep 4

📆 23/10 - Séminaire sociAMM - Mathieu Arnoux (EHESS, U. Paris-Cité) & Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social (U. Anvers) en dialogue avec Davide Cristoferi, directeur du volume "Socio-Economic Inequalities during the Conjuncture of the Fourteenth Century" : bit.ly/4nampZp
#ULB #skystorians #inequalities

Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social · May 16

Vlaanderen was niet droogtegevoelig, het is het geworden. Voor de landbouw was droogte in het verleden altijd een zegen. Toch is de droogteproblematiek niet het gevolg van klimaatverandering. Ook zonder de klimaatverandering hadden we een immens probleem www.demorgen.be/meningen/dro...

Droogte was in Vlaanderen tot de twintigste eeuw nooit een groot probleem, niet voor de landbouw, niet voor het drinkwater

Tim Soens is milieuhistoricus verbonden aan de Universiteit Antwerpen. De problemen die we nu ervaren met de droogte, hebben we volgens hem zelf gecreëerd.

www.demorgen.be

Tim Soens @tsoens.bsky.social · Feb 4

4/02/1825: exactly 200 years ago, a storm surge triggered a major environmental transformation in Jutland, Denmark: Breaking through the small isthmus separating the Limfjord from the sea. Saltwater entered, fish populations changed dramatically, see Bo Poulsen www.brepolsonline.net/doi/10.1484/...