NETHERLANDS: Rotterdam threatened with worst flooding in decades

A massive storm surge barrier near the Dutch port city of Rotterdam was closed late on Thursday (November 8) as the North Sea coasts of the Netherlands and Britain faced their worst flood threat in decades. Authorities compared the approaching conditions to those in 1953 when floods killed more than 2,000 people in both countries. At around 11 p.m. (2200 GMT), the two large, arc-shaped steel doors of the Maeslant barrier inched into the waterway that connects Rotterdam to the North Sea. As a small group of spectators braved rain and wind to watch from a narrow headland, it took about half an hour for the two doors to meet in the middle of the Nieuwe Waterweg, which is about 360 metres wide here. It was the first time since its construction in the 1990s that the barrier was closed under storm conditions. The flood defences of the entire Dutch coast were put on alert and the Oosterschelde barrier in the south of the country was also closed, a ministry spokesman said.

ITN Source | November 9, 2007

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