Overview: Could the flood disaster have been prevented? In the aftermath of the Second World War, Walcheren was flooded to chase away the Germans and liberate Zeeland. The Braakman, an estuary of the Western Scheldt, was closed in 1952 and the whole of Zeeland took part in it. In between all this, hydraulic engineer and Rijkswaterstaat employee Johan van Veen wrote the first Delta Plan: well before the disaster he warned that the dikes could break.