----------------------------Original message---------------------------- 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 [log in to unmask]