Thursday, November 8, 2007

Oops...floods all over - Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway...

Followup. Now that I'm at a computer (rather than a phone), it's easier for me to provide this update from the BBC:

A storm in the North Sea has left Britain and the Netherlands facing the worst flood threat in decades with tidal surges predicted early on Friday.
Flood defences have been put on alert on the entire Dutch coast and flood warnings are in place for the eastern and northern coasts of Britain.

A tidal wave in 1953 killed more than 2,000 people in both countries.

Oil platforms have been closed off the Norwegian coast and gales are expected in Germany and Denmark....

[In England] [t]he storm surge is expected to peak around dawn on Friday, and several hundred people have left their homes near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk.


As I write this, it's about 5:30 in the morning in Britain, and more has been written since the BBC article was posted. David Bird:

The Uk and other North Sea countries are on a flooding alert. It is the first time since 1976 that every country bordering the Sea was on alert at the same time.

Catholicgauze has included a map, along with these comments:

While my English readers are probably asleep by now, any of them who live along the mouth of the Thames River probably want to leave. A tidal wave (not a tsunami) is headed straight towards England.

A storm in the North Sea is predicted to cause a sea surge of about ten feet (two meters) which will threaten the coastline along the Thames. The tidal surge is being caused by fifty mile per hour winds, an unusually high tide, and a low pressure off the eastern coast of England....

The surge is expected to range from the Thames area down to Belgium. This includes low lying Holland. Hopefully Dutch engineering of dams, dikes, and other structures will hold like they did in 1953, otherwise the possibility of a Katrina on a Dutch scale exists.


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