St. Peter's Flood
The Petri flood of 1651 was a result of two storm surges, the first on 22 February 1651 coasts and islands of all of Friesland, the German Bight and the Old Country devastating hit, while the second on 4/5 March continued the city of Amsterdam under water. It has long been assumed in the past that there had been both of these disasters are one and the same event. This confusion was due to the fact that at this time in northern Germany and parts of the Netherlands was still the Julian calendar in use, while since 1582 used in Holland and Zeeland the Gregorian calendar.
The storm surge on 22 February
The storm surge on 22 February resulted in thousands of deaths (some sources say 15,000 ) and caused great loss of land. The dune chains of islands of Juist and Langeoog were divided, destroyed settlements as Dornumersiel, Accumersiel and Altensiel. The water reached the Kirchwarft of Fulkum four kilometers inland from the present coastline, where many corpses driven wurden.Die then buried dykes near Minsen, Schillig at the Jade Bay and suffered heavy damage. In the Old Country broke the dikes; the natural monument " Gutsbrack " in Hamburg is a remnant of that flooding.
The western part of the island Buise between Juist and Baltrum, who was with the First Great Mandränke of 1362 broken into two parts, finally disappeared. Juist was torn at the site of today's hammer lake into two parts and remained so until the second half of the 19th century. The island lost much land and many houses; the foundations of the church were washed out so that they collapsed in 1662.
The storm surge on 4/5 March
The storm surge in the night of 4 to 5 March sought mainly the Zuiderzee and the coastal areas home, where she was regarded as the worst flood in 80 years. The dikes east of Amsterdam broke in numerous places, so that the polder Watergraafsmeer and a significant part of the city of Amsterdam were flooded. Two major breakthroughs in Zeeburgerdijk, the Groote Braak ( "Big Break" ) or St. Jorisbraak ( " St. George's fracture " ) and the smaller Braak, leaving two large flood lakes in the area of present-day district of "Indian Buurt " in Amsterdam Oost; the Braak was diked and filled in 1714, the Groote Braak 1723. The flood also left a smaller lake, the Nieuwe Diep, which still exists today. In the polder Watergraafsmeer where five people lost their lives, the levees were repaired immediately and pumped out the water, and on July 15, 1652 attracted the inhabitants in a procession through their polder to celebrate its recovery.
Other parts of the Netherlands were affected. In Scheveningen, Katwijk and Den Helder houses were torn away. The new dike between Amsterdam and Haarlem was breached and flooded the area around Haarlem. Also in Edam, a dike was destroyed. In Friesland, the levees broke around the Dokkumer Grootdiep, the channel between Dokkum and the North Sea, and created the still existing small lake " Mâlegraafsgat " (also called " Sint Pitersgat " called ). To the east of the province of Groningen, the Dollard was affected by the flood.