NONFICTION
Stop Those
Floods!
It was the middle of the night on February 1,
1953. In the Netherlands, people were fast
asleep. They had no idea how much danger
they were in. And at that time, there was no
system to let people know they were in danger.
In the Netherlands, people depended on
strong dikes, or walls. The dikes were there to
hold back the sea. But on that night, the sea
fought back. And on that night, the sea won!
Read Between the Lines
Seawater flooding
Dutch homes
Visualize stop those floods!
1 What happened to the dikes on the night
of February 1, 1953?
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing
Swept Away!
Swoosh! A deadly storm swept across the
North Sea. Crash! High winds and tides
slammed against the dikes. Crack! One
dike broke . . . and then another. The storm
shattered 89 dikes in all. The southwest
Netherlands flooded as the water rose. The
rising sea put entire towns under the water.
The mayor ordered the owner of a ship to
plug the hole in the dike—with the ship! The
owner did as he was told. He sailed the ship
right into the hole in the dike. The mayor’s
plan worked. The people who counted on the
dike were safe.
Practice the Strategy
VISUALIZE
2 Picture the event you just read about. Write
a sentence that tells about the picture of
the event you have in your mind. Then list
any words from the text that helped you
make this picture in your mind.
There was some good news, though. One large
dike had been built to keep three million people
safe. When this dike looked like it would break,
the mayor of a small town had an idea.
Visualize stop those floods!
A flooded Dutch town
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing
But in many parts of the rest of the country,
survivors sat on rooftops. Other countries,
such as France and the United States, came
to help. They rescued people with helicopters
and boats. In all, more than 70,000 people
were forced to leave their homes. And more
than 1,800 people died in the floods.
A Delta Works dam
Go Delta Works!
The Netherlands had one response to the flood:
“Never again!” To try to defeat the sea, the
government designed the Delta Works. It is
a system of giant dams and gates to block the
flow of rivers and tides.
It took more than 50 years to build the Delta
Works. When it was finished in 1997, the
Delta Works had 10,000 miles of dikes.
Read What’s There
3 What did the government of the
Netherlands do to help solve the problem
of flooding?
A town after the flood
Visualize stop those floods!
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing
Think Again
Waking Up on Water
Even the Delta Works didn’t stop all of the
floods. In 1995, two big rivers burst out of
their banks. Many people had to escape, but
no one died.
Can your house float? In the Netherlands, it
might. To keep safe from floods, some people
are buying floating homes.
How do the houses float? Each house rests on
a floating platform. Mooring posts keep the
house from moving side to side. When the
water rises, the house floats up along the posts.
Global climate change adds to the flooding
problem. Every year more ice and snow
melt, and the sea rises. About half of the
Netherlands is below sea level. So people there
are looking for new ways to live with water—
and on it.
Water level
Floating platform
Mooring posts
T hink About It
4 Reread the section “Waking Up on Water” and
look at the diagram. How do floating homes
help solve the problems that flooding has
caused in the Netherlands?
Homes built on man-made land
Visualize stop those floods!
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing