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Subscribe to RSSAP reports - Dozens of farmers were warned to evacuate land north of the Dutch capital Thursday as a dike protecting the area threatened to collapse.
Robin Utrecht / AFP - Getty Images
A Dutch local resident watches floodwaters through his window, in Dordrecht on Jan. 5. Gale force winds and heavy rains are expected along the Dutch coast. About a quarter of the country sits below sea level.
Local mayor Ben Plandsoen told national broadcaster NOS that a polder — reclaimed land that is drained by pumps and mills — would likely be submerged under some 40 centimeters (16 inches) of water if the dike protecting it breaks.
Catrinus Van Der Veen / EPA
People walk on a bridge over the Dutch Groninger Museum as the building is threatened by high water in Groningen, northern Netherlands, on Jan. 5. Although there are fears that the high water caused by heavy rains and storms could flood the museum, it was still open for the public on Jan. 5.
"You just don't know how the dike will hold up," he said. "It is saturated, so you don't know how much pressure it can take."
Vincent Jannink / EPA
A Dutch police officer watches the high water situation in Tolbert, in the north of the Netherlands, on Jan 5, where a dyke may fail and flood farmland, following heavy rains and storms hitting the coastal country.
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Who made those windows ?? I need them in my house.
Agreed. No pressure on those windows at all.
My heart goes out to these folks... I hope they will be spared a major disaster.
While we make political hay of the cause, we could be adjusting to the idea of living in or on water, with pole houses, house boats, together with depopulating coastal properties; ' cause those poles are melting folks, and it really doesn't matter at this point why. It's time to salvage what's portable and move to higher ground. The trade off is the fact that the warmer weather will open up heretofore uninhabitable places once frozen. Then again, limiting our population growth doesn't seem out of order. I suggest we start with the global warming deniers,,,,,