In the 1950s, there was a shift from press photography to documentary photography, one of the first examples being the photo registration of the flood disaster. Research has shown that many well-known Dutch photographers, who were still novices at the time, travelled to the disaster scene to shoot a photographic report. The typical photographic style of many of them can already be seen in these series.

'De ramp / The flood' is now part of the collective memory of many Dutch people. With work by, among others Henk Jonker, Ed van Wijk, Cas Oorthuys, Ed van der Elsken, Eva Besnyö, Maria Austria, Henk Nieuwenhuijs, Kees Molkenboer, Dolf Kruger, Aart Klein, Martien Coppens, Jo Bokma, Ad Windig en Frits Gerritsen.