Fabio ManganielloThis is a brutal reminder of how vulnerable the Netherlands is, how it’s only thanks to technology that we can live here, and how even a small technical glitch could put the whole country under water.
During storm Ciaran last November ships could still come into Amsterdam. The flood gates at IJmuiden were doing their usual job, opening up to let ships in, and closing down to keep the storm out.
Except that some employee around 4AM apparently forgot all of them wide open in the middle of the storm.
As a result, the level of the IJ increased by 20 cm in less than 2h.
Hadn’t it been for a particularly diligent employee that decided to check the status of the gates at IJmuiden and immediately closed the gates downstream on the IJ, Amsterdam would have easily ended up under 1-2m of water.
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