The Netherlands is not called "The lowlands" for nothing. My house is about 2 m lower than the sea surface. Many people asked me what it's like to live below the sea level. No we hardly notice it. Many centuries of fighting the water gave the dutch much expertise in keeping the water out and we do a good job. We have a sophisticated system of canals, dykes, pumps and polders to manage the water. Hardly ever do we get problems, only rarely, when circumstances work against us.
Like today. We got a storm from the north-west, about 9-10 Beaufort. This pushes the water of the North-sea against our coast, so the sea is dramatically higher. This makes it very difficult to pump the water out as we have to pump 2-3 meters higher than normal. This combined with heavy rain all over Europe (we are at the receiving end of a few big European rivers, like the Rhine and the Waal) brings our system to a grinding halt. Water in the rivers start tor rise and we have to flood some polders to keep it slightly lower. Only our last line of defense, the river dykes will keep us save, but only just.
But no, we're not worried about that, we're used to it. Like many of my fellow countrymen, I went out on my bike against the wind this afternoon to see the high water.
I live in Dordrecht, a city surrounded by big rivers. About 2 km south of me flows the Merwede river. That's where I took this pictures with my iPhone:
1 little harbour close to my house. You see the path were pedestrians can walk along the water, totally flooded
2. I wanted to cycle over this road
3. Other part of the road, made have a little movie here where you can see the water creeping up the road, maybe I'll upload that later. The water was still rising at this time.
4. See how the road on the left is considerably lower than the water on the right. This is our river dyke, the one that keeps the water out.
5. More flooding, just outside of the dyke
6. Another little harbour, the boat is almost on the land..
7. Water difference, the piece of land in between is the "Summer dyke", which is already overflooded
8. Here the water flows over the summerdyke. When I was there it started 2 streams, when I left, 15 minutes later, there were 5. The place I'm standing when taking the picture was under water within an hour.
Like today. We got a storm from the north-west, about 9-10 Beaufort. This pushes the water of the North-sea against our coast, so the sea is dramatically higher. This makes it very difficult to pump the water out as we have to pump 2-3 meters higher than normal. This combined with heavy rain all over Europe (we are at the receiving end of a few big European rivers, like the Rhine and the Waal) brings our system to a grinding halt. Water in the rivers start tor rise and we have to flood some polders to keep it slightly lower. Only our last line of defense, the river dykes will keep us save, but only just.
But no, we're not worried about that, we're used to it. Like many of my fellow countrymen, I went out on my bike against the wind this afternoon to see the high water.
I live in Dordrecht, a city surrounded by big rivers. About 2 km south of me flows the Merwede river. That's where I took this pictures with my iPhone:
1 little harbour close to my house. You see the path were pedestrians can walk along the water, totally flooded
2. I wanted to cycle over this road
3. Other part of the road, made have a little movie here where you can see the water creeping up the road, maybe I'll upload that later. The water was still rising at this time.
4. See how the road on the left is considerably lower than the water on the right. This is our river dyke, the one that keeps the water out.
5. More flooding, just outside of the dyke
6. Another little harbour, the boat is almost on the land..
7. Water difference, the piece of land in between is the "Summer dyke", which is already overflooded
8. Here the water flows over the summerdyke. When I was there it started 2 streams, when I left, 15 minutes later, there were 5. The place I'm standing when taking the picture was under water within an hour.
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Sounds like you handle it well though. I hope it recedes quickly!
