Haddock Sea flood of 1955
 Flooding in suburban Nordport | |
| Date | 1-2 December 1955 |
|---|---|
| Location | Template:Country data Geadland (Leghel, Horgalund, Audholm and Solned Delta) File:South vyv flag.png South Vyvland (Nevel, Pegerm, Kros, Kafren-Grunir) |
| Deaths | 2,067 (1,752 in Geadland, 212 in Vyvland, 103 at sea) |
| Property damage | 7% of Geadish farmland flooded Over 20,000 farm animals drowned Over 50,000 buildings destroyed |
The 1955 Haddock Sea flood (Geadish: Üsemirs Oferflom o 1955, Vyvlander: Gevlut 1955s or Hektseegevlut) was a major flooding disaster caused by a storm which began on the night of Thursday 1 December and continued until the morning of Friday 2 December.
Geadland was the worst affected country because of its low lying territory, with 18% of it lying below the mean sea level. Heavy rainfall in the last week of November had already caused the country's rivers rise to unusually high levels and breach a few levees. The storm occured at the time of a spring tide, resulting in a storm surge tide that lifted sea levels to as high as 4.1 metres above sea level. Over 100 coastal dikes and 20 river levees were overwhelmed, leading to widespread flooding and property damage.
The north of the country and the Solned Delta were the worst affected regions. The city of Arje was particularly badly affected due to a large number of poor quality houses which had been built hastily to accomodate Swedish Vyvlander refugees. Nearly 15,000 of these houses were destroyed. The Slochterdam was breached for the only time in its history, flooding part of central Da Hegner, including the area surrounding the Westergard Palace and government buildings. Nordport, Walen and Sofjastad were also flooded. The flooding caused 1,752 human fatalities, submerged 7% of the country's farmland and drowned over 20,000 farm animals.
Following the storm, a government inquiry was set up to investigate how to prevent future disasters, under the leadership of MPs Henrik Abilo and Ronald Skepper. The 1957 Abilo-Skepper report led to a series of engineering works to improve the country's flooding defences, with the most dramatic being the creation of the island of Nüholm.
In Vyvland, the floods were felt most strongly in low-lying western areas, predominantly Nevel, which was already in a struggling economic situation at the time. Localised surges were also reported, especially in Pegerm and Strossen. The floods resulted in 400km2 of land being temporarily submerged, in addition to 212 deaths, mostly of those living in coastal settlements and the major city of Byzvild. Further east, a high tide associated with the flood washed away large parts of the island of Sohdoym, cutting it off from the mainland at all but the lowest of tides.