Several breaches in the dikes begin the deadly inundation of large areas of central Holland

In Holland, thawing after a severe winter caused a serious series of dike-breaches in the province of Gelderland, first near the village of Leeuwen and then in neighboring areas, notably Nieuwaal, where a gap of more than 300 feet appeared.  A massive disaster followed. Entire communities were washed away, 40,000 acres of land laid underwater, hundreds of people drowned, and tens of thousands of others made homeless in the country's worse flooding of the century.  (By John Osborne)