Recent Flooding and Precautionary Measures in Belgium and France

It has also rained heavily in our southern neighbors recently, and it is expected to continue to rain in the near future. The water level is therefore in danger of ending up in the danger zone in some places. The Belgian Meteorological Institute has issued code yellow for West Flanders.

Precautionary actions

To prevent possible flooding from the river Leie, residents in parts of Ghent, Deinze and Sint-Martens-Latem can collect sandbags for free. The fire brigade recommends that they be placed preventively in front of doors and cellar openings. Other tips are to move important papers and valuables one floor higher.

Border France-Belgium

Precautions were previously taken around the IJzer river. A regional contingency plan was put into effect around the French-Belgian border. Water pumps, barriers and tons of sand must prevent flooding.

Whether it is sufficient depends on the amount of rain that will fall. The Belgians also look at the weather forecast for France. Some of the water from the north of France flows back to the sea via Belgium.

Code rood

There in the north of France, code red is currently in effect. They are experiencing the worst floods in decades. The rain didn’t stop the past few days. In some places, almost as much fell in one day as in the entire month of November.

Entire areas and villages are flooded. More than a hundred municipalities have been affected, especially in the Nauw-de-Calais department. Residents have to be evacuated in places. Others are advised to put together an emergency package in case they still have to leave their home. More than 200 schools are keeping their doors closed for safety reasons.

Problems in coastal areas

The fact that the problems mainly occur in West Flanders and around Calais is because most showers in this part of the year fall on the coast. “The sea water is still relatively warm, which means more water evaporates,” says meteorologist Marc de Jong of Buienradar. “So there is more moisture in the air and that means you get showers on the coast. But this year it is very extreme.”

According to De Jong, the fact that you see problems more often after extreme rainfall in countries such as Belgium, France and Great Britain is because we took action in the Netherlands after the floods of the Maas in 1993 and the near-flooding of the Rivierenland in 1995, when 250,000 people had to be evacuated. “After that, the Netherlands literally gave rivers more space. Other countries did not make these large-scale investments. As a result, they suffer more from flooding,” says De Jong.

Breather

As for the rain: for now there is a bright spot. This weekend seems to remain largely dry. The water may calm down for a while, perhaps drop a bit. But from Monday it will be changeable again. The risk of more flooding and flooding is not over yet.

2023-11-11 07:48:16
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