Athiest 4 Bush wrote:
What would happen if the 1953 storm were to strike
the Netherlands today?

I guess that all depends on whom you ask. Personally I would not be too
scared about a feb.'53 type of storm. But then again, it all depends on
timing. High water (or better, extreme high tides) along with very
strong winds and the associated wall of water, being just in the right
place were maintenance has been, well .. say .. not up to standards,
well .. you've seen to what that can lead.

How did the 1953 storm compare to the
All Saints' Day storm?


Dude, use Google a bit more often! .. One quick ref I pulled from
the KNMI site:
http://www.knmi.nl/kenniscentrum/wat...atuurramp.html
... but then again, it does depend on you being able to read a Dutch
text. Not sure though if something similar exists in English. Most
important quote from the article:

"De zeldzaamheid van de stormvloed van 1953 is vooral te wijten aan de
extreme waterstanden." which more or less translates to "The stormsurge
of 1953 is exceptional because of the extreme waterlevels". Sooo .. a 53
kinda storm in itself is not really a thing to worry much about.
However, when timing is really off (an exceptional stormsurge combined
with high spring at precisely the right time (which wasn't the case even
in '53!) things could become messy ...

--
"The Earth is just too small and fragile a basket for the human race to
keep all its eggs in."
Robert Heinlein