The iconic city center of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, almost “drown”, as tens of thousands of homes in the city were at risk of flooding, due to a computer error!
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According to reports from Dutch media, billions of liters of North Sea water flowed into Amsterdam in early November last year, raising the canal's water levels by 20 centimeters and posing a serious risk to the city.
The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Rijkswaterstaat, reported that as Storm Ciarán hit the coast of North Holland, high wind speeds began to push seawater inland. With a third of the Netherlands below sea level, its inland cities are protected by a vast and complex network of canals and piers.
Around 4 a.m. on November 2, an unknown computer error switched the gates from automatic to manual controls, meaning nothing stood between the water rushing from the North Sea toward Amsterdam.
As the controllers were located 30 kilometers from the gates, the operators were unaware that they were not functioning properly.
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Utility workers noticed something was wrong just two hours later, after an employee of the Amstel Gooi en Vechtstreek noticed that the extremely high water level in the canal could not have been caused by rainfall and wind alone.
At the clerk's urging, colleagues manually inspected the gates, but found that they were wide open, allowing the sea to reclaim the land it had once lost to the Dutch.
Almost four hours after the initial rise in water, when the canal water level was already 32 centimeters above normal, authorities manually closed the fourteen gates that protect Amsterdam from the sea.
The incident prompted Rijkswaterstaat to move the well operation complex closer to the gates so that employees can visually inspect them. Authorities have also deployed additional personnel to monitor the canal 24/7 and installed an acoustic signal to alert staff to any irregular rise in water levels.
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A computer glitch, like the one that nearly flooded Amsterdam, can manifest itself in a variety of forms, often leading to unexpected errors or malfunctions in software or hardware. These malfunctions can result from a variety of factors, including bugs in software code, incompatible hardware components, or even external influences like power surges. Users may experience glitches such as frozen screens, application errors, or slow processing speeds. Addressing these issues typically involves restarting the device, updating software, or, in some cases, reinstalling the operating system. Prompt troubleshooting is essential to maintaining system functionality and avoiding potential data loss.
Source: cybernews
