Posted on 09/04/2005 11:30:28 PM PDT by SmithL
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Anti-flood measures will be reviewed in all Dutch regions below sea level in light of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath to ensure they would be adequate in an emergency, the government said Sunday.
All possible weak spots in the dikes - the tall, uniform embankments that protect the Dutch countryside - also will be examined, said Melanie Schultz van Haegen, the junior transport and waterworks minister.
She said emphasis will be placed on the populous Amsterdam and Rotterdam regions, which both lie below sea level, De Telegraaf newspaper reported Sunday.
Flood protection in The Netherlands - a country about twice the size of New Jersey that is mostly below sea level - is considered among the best in the world. The government is planning to spend $3.7 billion over the next ten years on new projects against the threat from river floods, in addition to the $620 million spent annually on maintaining the current system in the country.
Paint fumes.
This is all great to study the Dutch, but when was the last time they got hit by a cat4 hurricane??!
Glad I wasn't drinking anything. Pepsi burns coming out my nose.
Think "tsunami".
I knew all those Dykes were going to cause problems for New Orleans.
OK. I'll take the setup - When was the last time they got hit by a big tsunami? I don't really know. Maybe not long ago. Tell me.
Government at all levels did NOT make the levees high enough for this severity level storm.
That was a known GIVEN to begin with.
Government at LOCAL level failed to execute whatever plan they had to mitigate loss of life.
The DUTCH are going to study the Dutch plans. The dike builders confidence has been shaken!!
After days of mouthing off in in the Euro press about how unprepared we were the light finally dawned on the overly proud b*rst*rds that they are no more prepared than we are for this sort of thing.
The worst North Sea storms equate to a Category 1 or maybe a category 2 storm. They have no concept of a cat 5 with a 30 foot storm surge. (One automated sea buoy reported a 45 foot wave the evening before the storm hit).
You're right. Damn, I blew it. It's too late. I'm going to bed. I've lost me edge.
Wimp!
Hey! Watch it!
There's that island out in the middle of the Atlantic that's going to cause an impressive tsunami when it goes.
That said, I think they're really just double checking their plans on what to do if their dikes fail. New Orleans just showed what happens when your below-sea-level city starts flooding and you don't have a plan.
The other thing is that they just realized that most of their dikes and levees and pump systems are post-war. And we built them. And they really haven't been looked at since....
The big storm from the 1950s...which killed a couple of thousand Amsterdam residents...changed their strategy completely. And if you go up there...it is a fantastic system they have put into place...all built in the 50s and 60s. About every 10 years, they another little piece to the puzzle and there are small back-up measures which make Dutch plan almost foolproof. Of course, they elected to spend the money and did it out of their own national budget (take in consideration that the country is barely half the size of Mississippi).
In New Orleans case...there are alot of state residents that will have major heartburn if you attempt to throw $1 billion ($9 billion less than necessary to fix it) of state money toward Sin City. The governor who pushes that will kill their reelection chances. And the mayor who attempts to tax the city and tourists...will be fired on the next election as well. So they all want the Feds to fix this. I can't see the US government doing this...and turning around to NY and say "NO", we can't help with your subway system, or to Alabama and say "NO", we can't lifecycle your dams on the Tennesee River.
Infrastructure requirements are what will kill the US in 30 years. We simply can't afford to fix the nation. And we ought to wake up and see this.
Are the rest of us interrupting something here?
I got a brilliant idea. How about not building cities below sea level.
If I only had a time machine.
Oh yea, that will be the Lefty's next argument: "Why didn't Bush have a time machine and go back and tell the Frenchies to build N.O. above sea level. Racist!"
It WAS built above sea level--on a delta 300 years ago. It done sunk, I gare-on-tee.
If a mountainhead on La Palma slides into the sea the resultant soliton will wipe out the entire East coast of America up to 30 miles inland. So "Impressive" is the word :0)
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