Germans built a lot of bunkers on both sides of the canal. In 1944, when the allied forces where chasing after the retreating Germans, they were also stopped by the canal, as the Germans blew up all the bridges. After the war, almost all of the old steel arch bridges were repaired. The bridge of Elsloo, standing higher above the canal and being much longer than the other bridges, could not be replaced until the 1960s. Today, it's the only bridge (except the highway bridge to Belgium, built in the 1970s) that has no arch. On January 27, 2004, the canal became an international news item. During the night, one of the dikes was washed away. When a man walking on the dike suddenly saw that the path in front of him had just disappeared, he called the firefighters. In the evening, the old centre of Stein was evacuated, while massive amounts of water were only held back by sandbags. After an investigation, the cause was found. An 80-year-old water supply line, which had not been in use anymore and was forgotten, but which was still under pressure, started to leak, causing the dike to erode from the inside out. Canals in the Netherlands Canals opened in 1935 Canals in Limburg (Netherlands) South Limburg (Netherlands) Transport in Maastricht Transport in Sittard-Geleen Echt-Susteren Maasgouw Meerssen Stein, Limburg