US Officials Seek Dutch Help to Fight Floods
Date: 11-Jan-06
Country: NETHERLANDS
Author: Anna Mudeva
Famed for clawing back land from an encroaching sea and building one of the world's most formidable flood defence systems, the low-lying Netherlands will share its know-how with the US delegation over the next three days.
"It will send a signal that protecting our livelihood from floods is do-able - it has been done and we can do it," delegation spokesman Adam Sharp told reporters late on Monday.
Hurricane Katrina's Aug. 29 assault wrecked New Orleans and scattered the population after protective levees failed and about 80 percent of the low-lying city flooded.
At least 1,300 people in Louisiana and Mississippi were killed in the storm, while tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed. The US government agreed last month to spend about $3.1 billion to strengthen the New Orleans levees.
But both US politicians and scientists disagree on exactly how to rebuild the levees, how much additional protection the region will need, and how to best restore and protect the wetland and coastal areas.
FLOOD DISASTER
The Netherlands, two-thirds of whose territory is below sea level, says it can do a lot to help New Orleans.
"They can profit from our experience and our mistakes," said Boudewijn van Eenennaam, Dutch ambassador to the United States.
He said the visit could help raise people's spirits in the damaged regions by assuring them that flood protection is achievable technically and financially.
The US delegation, led by Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, which also includes engineers, academics and businessmen, will tour Dutch flood control systems and study the country's water management plans to try to imitate some of them.
The Netherlands suffered a similar calamity 52 years ago when hurricane-force winds and an exceptionally high tide breached the famed Dutch dikes in more than 450 places along the southwestern coastline. More than 1,800 people were killed, many as they slept.
After "The Misery of 1953", the worst flood in modern Dutch history, the country embarked on a major overhaul of its flood defence. Under the Delta Project, huge dikes were built and a complex system of floodgates created to keep the sea at bay.
Last year, the government set aside 2.2 billion euros ($2.66 billion) to make sure coastal defences with high-tech dams, sluices, stronger dikes and flood barriers are maintained.
But Hurricane Katrina and global warming have made the Netherlands realise that higher and higher dikes and more powerful pumps are not enough to protect low-lying areas.
It is now shifting its water management philosophy by surrendering land back to the sea, moving dikes further from rivers to allow them to create flood plains, and working on ambitious plans to build floating buildings, roads and farms.
