6 An English civil engineer, Sir Joseph Bazalgette, was in charge of designing the sewer networks in Central London. In the 1860s, he decided to make the pipes twice their original size in case of a future need. In the 1960s, when London was severely flooded, this prevented the sewers from overflowing.

In 1968, London witnessed a devastating flood that was likely caused by a prolonged downpour. However, even amidst such heavy rainfall, it’s said that the underground sewers of the city did not overflow. This was because back when they were being constructed in the 1860s, the chief engineer of the project, Sir Joseph Bazalgette, had insisted on making them twice the then-needed size.

He is said to have claimed that such a decision was required to prepare the sewers for an unforeseen future need. As a result, when an unexpected amount of water came tumbling down its channels, it was able to withstand the added load and prevent a worse outcome.

Before these floods, Sir Bazalgette’s work on the sewers had helped rid the city of water-borne diseases like cholera. (1, 2) 

7 The Fat Man bomb that was dropped in Nagasaki was originally intended for the Japanese city of Kokura. However, due to smoke blocking the vision of the bombers, a last-minute decision was made to change the target, saving one city and dooming the other. 

On August 9, 1945, one of the two atom bombs, the Fat Man, was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. However, had it not been for a last-minute decision, this city may never have been bombed.

The original target of the bomb had been the city of Kokura. But on the day of the bombing, a screen of thick smoke blocked the vision of the bombers, forcing them to switch their targets.

In 2014, a former steelworker named Satoru Miyashiro publicly claimed that the smoke screen was there by design. He claimed that fearing an attack on the city, the workers at a nearby steel plant had burnt coal tar to produce thick black smoke.

Nevertheless, it’s not clear whether the smoke was a result of the efforts of these workers or from the bombing of the city of Yawata the previous day. (1, 2)

8 When a flood inundated the city of Winnipeg in the 1950s, Dufferin Roblin, then, Manitoba’s premier, ordered the construction of a flood diversion channel around the city. Although it was an expensive project, it was completed in March 1968. A few decades later, during the “Flood of the Century” in 1997, this channel prevented nearly two-thirds of the city from being destroyed. 

In the spring of 1950, a catastrophic flood inundated the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a consequence, nearly 100,000 people had to be evacuated and 10,000 homes were destroyed. This prompted the then Manitoba Premier, Dufferin Roblin, to build a flood diversion channel around the city.

The construction commenced in October 1962 and was completed in March 1968 for a cost of $63 million. The resulting channel was 47 kilometers long, 200 to 300 meters wide, and had a depth of nine to 12 meters. At the time, due to its huge expense and scale, this controversial project was dubbed “Roblin’s Folly.”

However, its true worth was soon realized in 1997 when another devastating flood took the city by surprise. During these floods, dubbed the “Flood of the Century,” this diversion channel helped save nearly two-thirds of the city from being destroyed. (1, 2)

9 In 1914, a French soldier’s life was saved by a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim. The soldier had carried the book in his breast pocket before going into battle at Verdun. There, during an artillery discharge, the book stopped a bullet and saved his life. 

During World War I, Maurice Hamonneau was a member of the French Foreign Legion. In 1914, he was sent to battle in Verdun, where he came under heavy artillery fire. Wounded and unconscious, he lay on the battleground for hours until regaining consciousness and taking stock of his injuries. Hamonneau then found that a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim had stopped a bullet and saved his life.

TIt turns out, before going into battle, he had put the 20-page-long 1913 Mercure de France edition of the book in his breast pocket. The book had then absorbed the impact of the bullet and saved his life.

Later, when Hamonneau heard that Rudyard Kipling had lost his son in the war, he sent him the book and his medal as a token of gratitude. Today, this book is kept on display at the Library of Congress in the Rare Books and Special Collections Division. (1, 2) 

10 In 1967, the Japanese town of Fudai erected a wall that was 51-feet high to protect its houses from the sea. Koraku Wamura, the then-mayor of the town, was endlessly mocked for this expensive decision. But in 2011, when the Japanese coast was devastated by a Tsunami, this wall saved countless lives in the town. 

When a Tsunami hit the coast of Japan in 2011, its effects were quite devastating. However, amongst the rubble of the northeast coast of Japan, one small town remained unharmed. In fact, it’s said that they barely even got wet.

This town, Fudai, had managed to evade catastrophic levels of destruction because of its decades-old seawall. In 1967, the then-mayor of the town, Koraku Wamura, had built this seawall despite the strong opposition he received. The 51-foot-tall wall had taken nearly 12 years to be built and had cost more than $30 million by today’s rates.

As expected, the wall had been deemed unnecessary and expensive, but Mr. Wamura was convinced that it would prove to be useful one day. Then, in 2011, just like he hoped, it successfully saved the town from certain destruction. Unfortunately, before he could see his pet project be celebrated, Mr. Wamura passed away in 1997. (1, 2)