St. Peter's Flood
Encyclopedia
St. Peter's Flood refers to two separate storm tides that struck the coasts of Netherlands
and Northern Germany
in 1651. During the first storm tide, on 22 February, the East Frisian
island of Juist
was split in two. During the second disaster, on 4-5 March, the city of Amsterdam
was flooded.
In the past, the two storm tides were thought to have been a single event. The two disasters were confused with each other because two different calendars were in use at the time. The Julian calendar
was still in use in Northern Germany and some parts of the Netherlands, while the Gregorian calendar
had already been adopted in Holland, Zeeland
and other parts of the Netherlands.
The year 1651 was something of an annus horribilis
for flooding, with many disastrous floods in Europe. In the Netherlands, for instance, another storm tide that struck during the night of 25-26 February broke through a number of dikes
and flooded large parts of the eastern Netherlands.
coast in Northern Germany, including the German Bight
. Thousands were drowned; according to some accounts the disaster claimed 15,000 lives.
The storm tide broke through the dunes of the islands Juist
and Langeoog
and split Juist in half. Only in 1932 would the two halves of Juist be reunited. The western half of the island of Buise
disappeared, leaving only the eastern half, now known as Norderney
. According to some sources, however, the western half of Buise did not disappear until 1690. The foundations of Juist's church were undermined by the floodwaters, causing the church to collapse in 1662.
The coastal towns of Dornum
ersiel, Accumersiel en Altensiel were devastated by the storm tide. The floodwaters reached the church mound
(terp) of Fulkum
; many corpses were buried on the mound. The flood even reached the Altes Land
, south of the city of Hamburg
, leaving the lake of Gutsbrack.
The dikes protecting the east of Amsterdam
broke in a number of places, flooding the Watergraafsmeer
polder
and much of the city of Amsterdam. Two gaps struck in the Zeeburgerdijk dike left two ponds in what is now the Indische Buurt
neighbourhood of eastern Amsterdam. The Groote Braak ("Great Break") or St. Jorisbraak ("St. George's Break") was filled in 1723 and the smaller Braak was filled in 1714. The storm tide also left a small lake, the Nieuwe Diep, which was never filled in and is still in existence.
In the Watergraafsmeer polder, five people were killed. After the disaster, the dikes were restored and the floodwater was pumped out again and on 15 July, 1652, the inhabitants of the Watergraafsmeer paraded through their polder to celebrate that it was dry once again.
The storm tide also stuck elsewhere in Holland. In Scheveningen, Katwijk
and Den Helder
, houses were carried away by the waves. The newly constructed dike between the cities of Amsterdam and Haarlem was breached, flooding the area around Haarlem. A dike was also breached at Edam.
The northern provinces of Friesland
and Groningen
were affected as well. In Friesland, the storm tide broke through the dikes surrounding the Dokkumer Grootdiep (a canal connecting Dokkum
to the sea), leaving a small, round pond (kolk
), the Mâlegraafsgat or Sint Pitersgat, which is still in existence. The disaster spurred plans to close off the Dokkumer Grootdiep from the sea with sluice
gates. In Groningen, the Dollart
bay was stuck by the storm tide.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Northern Germany
Northern Germany
- Geography :The key terrain features of North Germany are the marshes along the coastline of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, and the geest and heaths inland. Also prominent are the low hills of the Baltic Uplands, the ground moraines, end moraines, sandur, glacial valleys, bogs, and Luch...
in 1651. During the first storm tide, on 22 February, the East Frisian
East Frisian Islands
The East Frisian Islands are a chain of islands in the North Sea, off the coast of East Frisia in Lower Saxony, Germany. The islands extend for some from west to east between the mouths of the Ems and Jade / Weser rivers and lie about 3.5 to 10 km offshore...
island of Juist
Juist
Juist is one of the seven inhabited East Frisian Islands at the edge of the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea in the southern North Sea, located between Borkum Island , Memmert Island and Norderney...
was split in two. During the second disaster, on 4-5 March, the city of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
was flooded.
In the past, the two storm tides were thought to have been a single event. The two disasters were confused with each other because two different calendars were in use at the time. The Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
was still in use in Northern Germany and some parts of the Netherlands, while the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
had already been adopted in Holland, Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
and other parts of the Netherlands.
The year 1651 was something of an annus horribilis
Annus horribilis
Annus horribilis is a Latin phrase meaning "horrible year", or alternatively, "year of horrors". It alludes to annus mirabilis meaning "year of wonders".-Elizabeth II:...
for flooding, with many disastrous floods in Europe. In the Netherlands, for instance, another storm tide that struck during the night of 25-26 February broke through a number of dikes
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
and flooded large parts of the eastern Netherlands.
The storm tide on February 22, 1651
The storm tide on February 22 struck the North SeaNorth Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
coast in Northern Germany, including the German Bight
German Bight
German Bight is the southeastern bight of the North Sea bounded by the Netherlands and Germany to the south, and Denmark and Germany to the east . To the north and west it is limited by the Dogger Bank. The Bight contains the Frisian and Danish Islands. The Wadden Sea is approximately ten to...
. Thousands were drowned; according to some accounts the disaster claimed 15,000 lives.
The storm tide broke through the dunes of the islands Juist
Juist
Juist is one of the seven inhabited East Frisian Islands at the edge of the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea in the southern North Sea, located between Borkum Island , Memmert Island and Norderney...
and Langeoog
Langeoog
Langeoog is one of the seven inhabited East Frisian Islands at the edge of the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea in the southern North Sea, located between Baltrum Island , and Spiekeroog . It is also a municipality in the district of Wittmund in Lower Saxony, Germany. The name Langeoog means Long Island in...
and split Juist in half. Only in 1932 would the two halves of Juist be reunited. The western half of the island of Buise
Buise
Buise was one of the East Frisian Islands off the North Sea coast of Germany that was almost entirely engulfed by the sea in the second half of the 17th century. The only remaining part is the eastern end, known today as the island of Norderney. Buise itself was formed by the breakup of a bigger...
disappeared, leaving only the eastern half, now known as Norderney
Norderney
Norderney is one of the seven populated East Frisian Islands off the North Sea coast of Germany. It is also a municipality in the district of Aurich in Lower Saxony....
. According to some sources, however, the western half of Buise did not disappear until 1690. The foundations of Juist's church were undermined by the floodwaters, causing the church to collapse in 1662.
The coastal towns of Dornum
Dornum
Dornum is a village and a municipality in the East Frisian district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the North Sea coast, approx...
ersiel, Accumersiel en Altensiel were devastated by the storm tide. The floodwaters reached the church mound
Artificial dwelling hill
An artificial dwelling hill is a mound, created to provide safe ground during high tide and river floods....
(terp) of Fulkum
Holtgast
Holtgast is a municipality in the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
; many corpses were buried on the mound. The flood even reached the Altes Land
Altes Land
Altes Land is an area of reclaimed marshland straddling parts of Lower Saxony and Hamburg. The region is situated downstream from Hamburg on the southwestern riverside of the Elbe around the towns of Stade, Buxtehude, Jork and the Samtgemeinde of Lühe...
, south of the city of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, leaving the lake of Gutsbrack.
The storm tide on 4-5 March, 1651
The storm tide during the night of 4-5 March, 1651 primarily struck the Dutch Zuiderzee coast. In the Netherlands, it was considered the heaviest storm tide to hit the shores in 80 years.The dikes protecting the east of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
broke in a number of places, flooding the Watergraafsmeer
Watergraafsmeer
The Watergraafsmeer is a polder in The Netherlands. It was reclaimed in 1629. In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were many buitenplaatsen in the Watergraafsmeer, though nowadays only one, Frankendael, remains....
polder
Polder
A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices...
and much of the city of Amsterdam. Two gaps struck in the Zeeburgerdijk dike left two ponds in what is now the Indische Buurt
Indische Buurt (Amsterdam)
' is a neighborhood in the eastern portion of the city of Amsterdam, in the Dutch province of Noord-Holland. The name dates from the early 20th century, and is derived from the fact that the neighborhood's streets are named after islands and other geographical concepts in the former Dutch colony...
neighbourhood of eastern Amsterdam. The Groote Braak ("Great Break") or St. Jorisbraak ("St. George's Break") was filled in 1723 and the smaller Braak was filled in 1714. The storm tide also left a small lake, the Nieuwe Diep, which was never filled in and is still in existence.
In the Watergraafsmeer polder, five people were killed. After the disaster, the dikes were restored and the floodwater was pumped out again and on 15 July, 1652, the inhabitants of the Watergraafsmeer paraded through their polder to celebrate that it was dry once again.
The storm tide also stuck elsewhere in Holland. In Scheveningen, Katwijk
Katwijk
Katwijk is a coastal municipality and town in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. It has a population of 61,292.-Location:...
and Den Helder
Den Helder
Den Helder is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula...
, houses were carried away by the waves. The newly constructed dike between the cities of Amsterdam and Haarlem was breached, flooding the area around Haarlem. A dike was also breached at Edam.
The northern provinces of Friesland
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
and Groningen
Groningen (province)
Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...
were affected as well. In Friesland, the storm tide broke through the dikes surrounding the Dokkumer Grootdiep (a canal connecting Dokkum
Dokkum
Dokkum is a Dutch fortified town in the municipality of Dongeradeel in the province of Friesland. It has 13,145 inhabitants . The fortifications of Dokkum are well preserved and are known as the bolwerken . - History :...
to the sea), leaving a small, round pond (kolk
Kolk
A kolk is an underwater vortex that is created when rapidly rushing water passes an underwater obstacle in boundary areas of high shear. High velocity gradients produce a violently rotating column of water, similar to a tornado. Kolks are capable of plucking multi-ton blocks of rock and...
), the Mâlegraafsgat or Sint Pitersgat, which is still in existence. The disaster spurred plans to close off the Dokkumer Grootdiep from the sea with sluice
Sluice
A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at its head by a gate . For example, a millrace is a sluice that channels water toward a water mill...
gates. In Groningen, the Dollart
Dollart
The Dollart is a bay between northern Netherlands and Germany, on the west side of the estuary of the Ems river. Most of it dries at low tide. Many water birds feed there.- Gaining from and losing to the sea :...
bay was stuck by the storm tide.