On the night of February 16 to 17, 1962, the storm system Vincinette struck the German North Sea coast, triggering a century flood. While Hamburg suffered 315 fatalities, the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein was spared to a large extent. However, dike breaches and flooding also caused severe damage to buildings, agriculture, and infrastructure here. This volume documents the effects of the storm surge in North Frisia and Dithmarschen with many previously unpublished images, extending to the regions around Itzehoe, Elmshorn, and Pinneberg. An overview of the course of the disaster, along with contemporary reports and memories from eyewitnesses, transports the reader back to that night, which will mark its fiftieth anniversary in 2012.