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Eric,
I'm alive and kicking, if somebody suitable to receive such
attention is around. But thank you for your kind worries. As far
as I know my library and most others are not in danger as they
are not built in rural areas.
We have spent comparatively as much financial effort in creating
protective works against the invasion of the sea as the USA spent
on the Apollo-project to put man on the moon. But when it comes
to the rivers we are overtaken by our wishes for leisure places
and comfort in natural surroundings. This means that a lot of
waterways have been somewhat canalized, making the riverbed
smaller, ipso facto the water rises higher. The neighbouring
countries upstream have done worse in this so we are all in
trouble now. As Holland is the delta for the river Rhine as well
as the river Meuse we have to take on both menaces at the same
time. The danger is not so much in the flood itself as the dikes
can take most, but a sustained period of flood undermines the
dikes and makes them weak. And if they do not burst the polders
behind will be filled by seepage. We can either built more and
higher dikes or create flood plains which can take water
surpluses.
At the moment some 15,000 people are evacuated from the Meuse
river valley in the province of Limburg, and some 100,000 from
three polders in the province of Gelderland (including some
1,000,000 pieces of livestock!). Another 100,000 people may be
evacuated soon from another polder when the water probably
reaches its highest point on Wednesday evening local time.
However, no main dikes have broken yet! The last time we (I then
was but a mere infant, but my family originally are masters of
inland vessels) saw these massive evacuations was during the
tempest of 1953 when the seadikes broke in the southwest of the
Netherlands. However then there were some 1,800 death to mourn,
and now it is more civilized. As far as I know there are no
accidental deaths and hardly any wounded.
The situation in the area Bonn-Cologne in Germany, the Ardennes
in France and Belgium seem far worse as the floods are higher and
they seem to be a little bit less prepared. It starts raining
again (not by 10CC?) and it will take some days before it comes
down to us.
It is a strange thing. Here I live in Rotterdam, of which great
parts are 3 to 5 m below sea-level, and have dry feet and no fear
for flood yet. And there they are in the east of the Netherlands
some 10 to 50 m above sea-level, and almost drowning.
As my office-time is up for today, I go and check home (or on the
television). Maybe more tomorrow.
Jan Smits
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands
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