On the night of 31 January 1953, a powerful storm surge struck the coasts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. Driven by severe winds and an exceptionally high tide, the sea overwhelmed coastal defenses in what became one of northwestern Europe’s most devastating natural disasters of the twentieth century. More than 2,800 people lost their lives, and vast stretches of farmland, polders, and coastal villages were swallowed by water.

In the frantic hours after the breaches, de Vries & van de Wiel, a fledgling Dutch contractor just a few years old, found itself on the frontline. A company crane happened to be working near a collapsing dike on the island of Texel, and the crew wasted no time helping seal the gap. Protecting communities against water became embedded in the company's DNA from that moment on, long before it became part of the DEME Group in 2000.

Across the border, the storm surge also wrought similar destruction in Belgium, submerging large parts of the polders along the Scheldt estuary. When the Pijp Tabak dike failed, tidal waters poured into the surrounding region for months. Ackermans & van Haaren was called upon to carry out the critical restoration works, closing the breach and helping restore safety to the region.

More than 70 years later, working with water remains a common thread throughout DEME's history. From these emergency flood repairs in 1953 to today's dike reinforcement, coastal protection, climate adaptation and nature-based solutions, safeguarding communities against water continues to be one of the group's enduring strengths.