History of Europe

When the tide tore Wangerooge apart

by Irene Altenmüller, NDR.deThe church in Wangerooge is destroyed by the flood. Only the defense tower remains.

"The tide of the sea reached an all-surpassing height on January 1st. 20 of 70 dwellings were destroyed; many others, undermined by the water, collapsed. (...) In the churchyard the coffins were washed out and the corpses by the roaring waves dragged down to the depths of the sea." The "Annual Calendar 1855" vividly describes the dramatic events of the New Year's flood on the North Sea island of Wangerooge. The tide goes out just in time and prevents deaths:"If the tide had lasted another hour, (...) most people would have found their horrible grave in the waves," said the island's pastor, Theodor Schmedes, in his Church Chronicle.

Most of the residents are leaving the island

Although there are no fatalities, the flood has devastating consequences:Not only has it made many residents homeless, it has also torn the island into three parts. Many wells are contaminated by the sea water. The bathing establishment, which has established itself as a promising source of income since 1804, is also on the brink of collapse. A government commission that has traveled from Oldenburg sees little hope for reconstruction:it calls on the islanders to leave the island and move to the mainland.

The lighthouse in the west, built in 1830, is badly damaged in the storm surge. A new lighthouse is being built in the east of the island.

The bathing establishment is also to be closed, according to the government decision. Some of the bathing machines are sold to residents of the neighboring island of Spiekeroog. The government provides funds for those who have resettled to the mainland. 233 of the 342 islanders followed the request, a large part of them settled near Varel on the Jadebusen and founded the Neu-Wangerooge settlement there. With the islanders, the Wangerooger Island Frisian also moves to the mainland - where it doesn't last as long as it does on the island itself. Since 1950, the island language has been considered extinct. Most resettlers don't stay long in Neu-Wangerooge either - although the settlement houses were built in the island's architectural style. Many of them move on to the newly founded Wilhelmshaven.

A new island village is being built around the lighthouse

In 1856 the new lighthouse was put into operation. Today it is the oldest building on the island.

The few residents who remain on Wangerooge move to the east of the island, where the new lighthouse is put into operation in 1856, which is also the first building on the new island town. The old island village is abandoned. The only reminder of Alt-Wangergooge in the west is the old defense tower, which has stood free on the beach since the flood. It is demolished in 1914. Today, the island village is in the middle of Wangerooge:Over the decades, the island has shifted further and further to the east under the influence of the sea. To this day, the tide regularly gnaws at the island. Most recently, several storm surges caused major damage in January 2015.

Norderney's west loses its dunes

The flood is also raging on Norderney:Large parts of the dune zone in the west and north-west, which had previously protected the island from the floods, are being lost there. Only a narrow row of dunes separates the beach from the island village and the bathing establishment. An artificial structure will be required to protect the island from future storm surges. From 1858, a massive fortification was built at the west end of Norderney:the first dune revetment on the German North Sea coast.

Areas of Hamburg close to the Elbe will be flooded

The flood caused serious damage not only on the East Frisian Islands, but also in distant Hamburg. Several dykes break under the pressure of the floods, including in the Vierlanden, in Bergedorf, in the Altes Land and in Moorburg.

In Wilhelmsburg, the dikes break in nine places, so that the low-lying Elbe island is completely flooded. Four people die, including two children. A call for donations addressed to the wealthy citizens of Hamburg describes the desperate situation of those affected:"In many cases, the residents have only saved their bare lives. (...) The household goods and especially the supplies of all kinds (...) have either been swallowed up by the floods or they have rendered entirely useless." The water does not stop at Hamburg city center either:the Alster locks are flooded, the streets in the city center and in the former suburb of St. Georg are flooded.

City builds new dikes

Only 107 years later does the water come back - like here in Neuenfelde, the dilapidated dikes break in dozens of places.

Since a severe storm tide hit the city as early as 1825 - at that time 789 people died along the entire North Sea coast, including 142 in the Elbe marshes - the city had the dikes renewed and significantly increased in the years after 1855. They grow to heights between 5.60 and 5.80 meters. They seem to offer secure protection for more than 100 years. The water levels are always far below those of 1855. The people on the North Sea and in Hamburg feel safe - a deadly misconception that decades later costs more than 300 people their lives. The ramshackle dykes, which are much too low, break again under the force of the floods when the water comes back 107 years later - during the great storm surge in the night of February 16th to 17th, 1962.

The city then had the dikes modernized and further increased. From 1990, she carried out modernizations and increases again, which are now almost complete. They were used to raise the dykes to heights of between 7.50 and 9.25 meters, depending on the potential waves.