Details about the flooding 2012 The flooding in the year 2012 Groningen

1. Year 2012
Date early January
NorthwesternEurope
At the beginning of January 2012 there was flooding invarious parts of the
Netherlands.
Due to two north-westernstorms incombinationwithasaturatedsoil due to
large amounts of precipitationin December andJanuary, the water rose
rapidly in large parts of the northwesternpart of the European mainland.
In the first week of January, more rain than usual wouldfall in the entire
month, especially inthe NorthernNetherlands, about 70 to90 millimeters.
On 3 to5 January, the wind force was 9 on the Beaufort scale for quite some
time.
Storm
Cyclone Ulli
The first stormthat coveredwas on January 3, this was cyclone Ulli, also
calledEmil by the Norwegianweather services. InDenmark this was the
worst stormin sevenyears, but alsostrong gusts were measuredelsewhere.
A gust of wind was measuredat 171 km / h in the NorthPennines inEngland
and one at 173 km / h inIJmuiden. At different weather stations inthe
Netherlands it came toan hourly average of 9 Beaufort (storm), onVlieland
evena few minutes 10 Beaufort (severe storm). 11 Beaufort was measured
on the Vissersbank for some time, this is hurricane power. The KNMI gave
code orange for heavy gusts along the coast. The heaviest gusts of wind were
usually measuredjust before the active coldfront that coveredaround noon
that day, inthe north more than 20 millimeters of precipitationfell locally.
This coldfront was also locally accompaniedby hail and thunder.
Cyclone Andrea
StormAndreawas the secondstormthat hit, on January 5. Central Europe in
particular was hit by heavy gusts, a gust of wind was measuredat 176 km / h
on the Zugspitze inGermany. In the Netherlands, anhourly average of 9

2. Beaufort was measuredat various weather stations andgusts of wind up to
120 km / h. In the morning, the KNMI again issuedcode orange, for the
provinces of Noord-Holland, FrieslandandGroningen.
Because water inthe NorthSeawas pushedup from the northwest tothe
Dutchcoast, so that the low water level was much higher than normal, it was
not possible touse the drainlocks to get ridof the excess rainwater. As a
result, the storms inthe Netherlands wereaccompaniedby an increase inthe
water level inthe various waterways. The water boards had, where
necessary, establisheddyke monitoring inthe provinces of Zeeland, South
Holland, NorthHolland, FrieslandandGroningen. In the Frieslandand
Groningenregions the nuisance was greatest, withareal chance of breaking
throughsome weakeneddikes.
Precautionary measures
As a result of the floodwarning, several stormsurge barriers, suchas the
Oosterscheldekering andthe bellows weir at Ramspol, were closedto
prevent dangerously highwater levels. The last warning for a stormflood in
the Netherlands was onNovember 8, 2007.
Various water storage facilitieswere openedtocombat the highwater. The
Noorderzijlvest water boardfloodedPeizermade waterstorage areafor the
first time. The Hunze en Aa's water board floodedthree of the nine salvage
polders:the Westerbroekstermade polder, Kropswolderbuitenpolder andthe
polder at Hamdijk. Polders andnature reserves werealsofloodedin
Friesland.
A number of emergency dikes were constructedby Hunze an Aa's water
board, such as along Bornholmstraat inthe Industriebuurt inGroningenbut
also at Meerwijck, Hoogezand, onthe Noord-Willemskanaal east of Eelde,
JachthavenMeerzicht onZuidlaardermeer, Overschild, Tuikwerderlaannear
Delfzijl, at the Winschoterdiepat Winschoten, Veendiep, Oudezijl andat the
Westerwoldse Aaat De Bult
At Delfzijl the dike passage was closed, the water was 3.40 above NAP, two
meters higher thannormal.

3. On January 6 the dikes were checkedwiththe special visionequipment of an
F-16 fighter jet fromthe Royal Netherlands AirForce, this was repeatedon
January 16. Bothdays infraredimages were made and compared witheach
other.
The basement floor of the Groninger Museumwas evacuatedas a precaution,
and the water didnot reachthe bottomwindows. The paintings were
replacedon January 9.
Incidents [
On 4 and 5 January 2012, apeat quay was fearedaround the Tolberter
Pettenbij Tolbert polder, inthe west of the province of Groningen. There are
around 40 buildings in the area, and dozens of people were voluntarily
evacuated. 50 soldiers were locatedinneighboring Leek shouldadyke breach
occur.
The situationaroundthis dyke eventually stabilized, yet the advice to
evacuate remainedinforce for
On the morning of January 6, around 800 residents inthe municipality of Ten
Boer in Groningenwere evacuateddue tothe high water level andthe known
weakness of the dike along the Eems canal near Woltersum. Water seeped
throughthe dike and the responsible authoritiesdidnot want totake any
risks. The area that was evacuated was several hundredhectaresandlay
betweenthe Eemskanaal and Damsterdiepuptothe Hoeksmeer nature
reserve andincludedthe villages of Woltersum, Wittewierumanda few
farms on the east side of the Damsterdiepnear TenBoer, TenPost and
Garmerwolde.
The sewage treatment plant at Garmerwolde was alsolocatedinthe
evacuationarea, where, among other things, the sewage water fromthe city
of Groningenis purified. The treatment was not hinderedbecause the water
board had laida sandbag wall of 60 centimeters high.
The water level droppedlate onthe evening of January 5, the wind decreased
and the tide turned. The water in the Eemskanaal fell in the afternoonof 6
January because it became possible todrain onto the Dollard. Because water
could not be dischargedat Lauwersoog, the water in the Frisianbasinwas

4. two decimetershigher thannormal. The monumental steampumping station
at Lemmer was under steamfor a week to provide extragrinding capacity,
the national monument drew a recordnumber of more than 10,000 visitors
that week. After January 9, the water was again at a safe level everywhere.
The first estimates of the damage amounted to 10 millioneuros.