As you point out, coastal protection has been taken seriously in Holland and all other countries abutting the North Sea. This is the reason you do not hear anymore about storms over there in the news. It really is simple - prepare yourself, or live with the consequences. 

My father helped collect drenched bodies in the aftermath of the flood in 1962 that had overwhelmed the dikes and drowned more than 300 people in in Hamburg, Germany. The highest flood on record in the area actually occurred in 1976, but it did little damage, because the dikes had been raised in the meantime. 

Both of these floods occurred when a global cooling trend prevailed. The whole issue really has nothing to do with the currently popular idea of "climate change". The storms will still be with us after the whole CO2 hysteria finally collapses for lack of empirical evidence.