MegaStructures
Season 2 Episode 10 - North Sea Wall
A historic and present look at Holland's efforts to hold on to their precious land from floods as a result of rising sea levels and climate changes. After a storm in 1916, the Dutch began a labor intensive construction of a Barrier Dam in 1923, stretching 30 km in length. It resulted in the reclamation of 165,000 ha of new land, and creation of a fresh water lake. However, in 1953, a combination of a hurricane and high spring tides caused the North Sea waters to force through the barrier and flood the Dutch coastline, resulting in the loss of over 1,800 lives and 47,000 livestock. The disaster resulted in Holland's creation of the 'Delta Project'. Costing billions of dollars, the project began in 1958. The project consisted of the construction of concrete dams, steel sea walls and retractable floodgates. Environmental considerations also led to the construction of the storm surge barrier in the Eastern Scheldt, one of the biggest in the world. It consists of 2 floating gates built on special docks. The vast gates are controlled by a computer system that allows the gates to be kept open but closes when a flood is imminent. Also presented are current emergency plans that include allocation of certain areas of land to be flooded during worse case flooding..
Episodes in Season 2
Golden Gate Bridge
60 min
Alcatraz
60 min
Inside The Pentagon
60 min
World's Busiest Port
60 min
Tau Tona - City Of Gold
60 min
Las Vegas
60 min
Black Gold (Oil Mine)
60 min
Ekati Diamond Mine (Diamond Diggers)
60 min
Sea Launch
60 min
North Sea Wall
60 min
The World's Most Extreme Island (Impossible Islands)
60 min
Indy Motor Speedway
60 min
Port of Rotterdam (Super Port)
60 min
Mega Plane (Air Force Transport)
60 min
Inside Grand Central
60 min
World's Biggest Airliner (Airbus A380)
60 min
USS Virginia
60 min
Ultimate Casino
60 min
Ultimate Roller Coaster
60 min
Norad (Spy Fortress)
60 min
Berlin's Grand Central (Berlin Train Terminal)
60 min
Boston's Big Dig
60 min
Ultimate Oil Rigs
60 min
Baikonur Cosmodrome
60 min
North Branch Correctional Institution
60 min
World's Tallest Bridge (Millau Bridge)
60 min
Mega Ship
60 min
Deep Sea Drillers
60 min
