Stormflodssøjlen

Frank Bach/Alamy

Detail of the top of the flood column (Stormflodssojlen) in the city of Ribe in Denmark.

Along the riverfront is Stormflodssøjlen, a wooden flood column commemorating the numerous floods that have swept over Ribe. The ring at the top indicates the water’s depth during the record flood of 1634 – a staggering 6m above the normal water level – which claimed hundreds of lives. Although these days a system of dikes affords low-lying Ribe more protection, residents are still subject to periodic flood evacuations.

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