Storm tide

A storm tide is a tide with a high flood period caused by a storm. Storm tides can be a severe danger to the coast and the people living at the coast. The water level can exceed more than 5 m above the normal tide.

For the protection from storm tides, long and high dike systems had been built, especially in the Netherlands, northern Germany and Denmark.

Big storm tides were in

• 1362 (Groote Manndränke), which formed a great part of the wadden sea and caused the end of the city of Rungholt.
• 1634 when the Island of Strand broke into parts (Nordstrand (island)Nordstrand and Pellworm in Nordfriesland
• 1953 most severe in the Netherlands, leading to the North Sea Reclamation Works
• 1962 causing more than 270 victims in Hamburg.