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All Episodes of The Water is Coming!

Browse all episodes of The Water is Coming!

Documentary series on the occasion of the 70th commemoration of the Flood disaster. Archival material and compelling eyewitness accounts map out how the disaster could unfold, how the impending danger was not sufficiently anticipated in

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Season 1

  • Episode 1: A wall of water
    N/A/100 votes

    Episode 1: A wall of water

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 1/6/2023

    What exactly happened on the night of January 31 to February 1, 1953? In the first episode a reconstruction of that fatal night. Eyewitnesses to the disaster in Zeeland tell what they experienced, often as young children. “My father just took the last step into the attic and the stairs fell away.” Rescue workers have been working for days to get people off the roofs. One of them tells how she was at work for five days. “You're like a machine, you do it, you don't think anymore.” Also in this episode the story of the Urk fishermen who came to the rescue and of a Terschelling captain and his crew, who were among the first victims of the disasters.

    Director: Unknown

    Writer: Unknown

  • Episode 2: Warning in the Wind
    N/A/100 votes

    Episode 2: Warning in the Wind

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 1/13/2023

    Could the flood disaster have been prevented? In the aftermath of the Second World War, Walcheren was flooded to chase away the Germans and liberate Zeeland. The Braakman, an estuary of the Western Scheldt, was closed in 1952 and the whole of Zeeland took part in it. In between all this, hydraulic engineer and Rijkswaterstaat employee Johan van Veen wrote the first Delta Plan: well before the disaster he warned that the dikes could break.

    Director: Unknown

    Writer: Unknown

  • Episode 3: Struggle and Rise
    N/A/100 votes

    Episode 3: Struggle and Rise

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 1/20/2023

    “You have to keep going.” For years, this has been the motto in Zeeland and the other heavily affected areas in the Netherlands. There is little or no talk about the Flood disaster. In that respect there is a parallel with other major traumatic events in the 20th century, such as the Second World War.

    Director: Unknown

    Writer: Unknown

  • Episode 4: The water comes again
    N/A/100 votes

    Episode 4: The water comes again

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 1/27/2023

    What have we learned from the flood disaster and is that enough to keep the Netherlands dry? In the final episode, attention is paid to the discussion about the Delta Works, the battle against water, climate change, but also about opening up Zeeland, the growth of tourism in the province and the story of the Biesbosch. The consequences of the flood disaster, positive and negative, are discussed in this final episode.

    Director: Unknown

    Writer: Unknown