Why do the Netherlands and Switzerland have relatively good flood protection? So many German media have been wondering in recent days. Jeroen Aerts, professor of water and climate hazards at VU University in Amsterdam, often referred to in Germany, answers that authorities in the Netherlands are better prepared and that communication in crises is faster.
“We saw the wave go better and knew where it was going,” says Aerts, referring to ancient knowledge in the Low Countries. The first water boards date back to the Middle Ages. “Germany desperately needs a long-term climate adaptation strategy, even if it is very expensive,” advises Aerts on the business magazine website. Capital. according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Essentially the Netherlands learned lessons from the great floods of the 1990s, as banks in many places were expanded to accommodate rising water levels.
The essence of the program is to give the rivers more space, says Joss Tywin for the Weekly strict. The head of the Water Department of the Limburg Province explains that floodplains have been designated for this. “No houses, no factories, no important infrastructure such as railways, but fields and meadows. In recent years, we have had to move people and demolish homes,” he added. The larger the area of water, the lower the current and the lower the water level. So you can plan the levees down, says Teeuwen.
Germans also want to learn something from their southern neighbors in Switzerland. The water level of the lakes around Zurich also rose dangerously, but the damage was not that bad. There were no injuries or deaths. The Swiss report learned lessons from 2005 when a summer storm caused the worst flooding in thirty years. The damage at that time amounted to billions. According to the Swiss Federal Environment Agency, CHF4.5 billion (annual) has been put under lockdown since then, nearly double what it was in previous decades. The money was spent on dams and bridges, but also on drainage tunnels that divert water. In addition, detailed hazard maps have been made so that it is crystal clear as to what could become dangerous in the event of a severe cloud explosion.
The entire camp site was swept away by rising waters in Germany:
