Abstract
Water is essential for life but this element which appeared just after the formation of our planet can also be very destructive. For centuries, the sea has shown itself to be a destructive force, which mankind must always take into account. We often consider these phenomena as a kind of revenge of nature. The inhabitants of the Netherlands often had to cope with flood disasters.
The name of the country gives us a clue of the problem : "Netherlands" literally means "the Low Countries". When a storm develops and the wind stirs up the waves, the Dutch coastal area can become flooded. To protect people, structures like dams and dikes have been built. These defences shouldn't have a major effect on their surroundings, the movable storm flood surge barrier was the result.
At present, there are only a handful of European countries, which manage or construct large sea-resistant storm flood surge barriers. These are the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Italy and Russia. So, knowledge of these unique objects is scarce and it demands very specific knowledge and experience especially now when climate change and sea level rise are recognised facts that should be taken into account.
But what historical reasons are at the origin of this involvement of human in the arrangement of his environment ? How does the government find a solution to solve this mortal problem ? How can water be such destructive ? How does storm flood surge barrier act to protect the population ?
