Dutch Experts To Sacramento Delta Residents - Plan Now For Floods

[hatrack]

STOCKTON - The Dutch have spent billions building levees and giant barriers to protect their low-lying country from flooding. And they consider it a bargain. "Prevention is very, very cheap. If you don't believe me, look at New Orleans," said Sybe Schaap, who heads a coalition of water boards responsible for building and maintaining levees. A team of water experts from the Netherlands toured the Delta on Monday and Tuesday, saying its winding channels, straight-edge canals and miles of levees reminded them of their homeland. Talk of the Delta's water woes also sounded familiar.

The Dutch visit, orchestrated by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, was intended to help experts from both nations swap ideas on flood control and levee stabilization. The Dutch experts' advice: Plan now for a catastrophic flood. Rebuild levees allowing more room for rivers and the occasional, inevitable flood. A massive storm surge in 1953 killed nearly 1,900 people in the Netherlands. Sixty percent of that country is considered at flood risk, and Amsterdam and Rotterdam are below sea level.

However, giant gates built at the entrance of the New Waterway shipping channel as well as other improvements allow the country protection from all but a 10,000-year storm. That's far better than the U.S. goal of protecting homes from anything short of a 100-year storm, defined as one that has a 1-in-100 chance of occurring in any given year. Some water managers in the San Joaquin Valley have suggested imitating the Dutch by building a gate in the western Delta, not for flood control but to keep out saltwater. The Delta is the drinking-water source for 23million Californians.

Engineers would have to modify the structure to use it for salt control, said Hans Balfoort, a senior water adviser from the Netherlands. But perhaps it could be done, he said. Hurricane Katrina has spurred more communication between the two governments, organizers said. Some of the roughly 17 Dutch delegates also visited New Orleans earlier this year. The Dutch recently approved a new plan to give their rivers more space by moving back levees, thus widening channels and allowing more water to pass through. Some homes likely will have to be destroyed. The best thing to do, Schaap said, is to plan cities so that they don't butt up against levees in the first place. This is especially important as global warming over the next century is expected to cause sea levels to rise.

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http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061018/NEWS01/610180323/1001

[Porcupine]

1. Developers don't care if the house floods after the sale.......

so they keep building into the floodplain in the Sacramento area. There is one area called Natomas that is pretty much a New Orleans type disaster waiting to happen.

The problem in Sacremento isn't water from the ocean but rapid snowmelt due to warm rains in January or February. A few years ago several levees to the south broke. It's only a matter of time before a levee goes in a developed area.

California is a wonderful place. Our seasons are Flood, Fire, Earthquake and Riot. Come visit sometime.

[NMDemDist2]

2. Sacramento is a flood waiting to happen. the river bed is higher

than the town due to the levee system in place for over 100 years. if one of the levees fail literally half the town (including the state capitol) will be under several feet of water

they've had a couple close calls in the last decade and once again the infamous Army Corp of Engineers is on the case there, just like NOLA

[Sequoia]

4. The Weather Channel was playing that senerio lately.

All the crops were flooded out, tomato soup.

[Javaman]

3. I'm so glad they are checking out Sacramento...

When it appears that New Orleans no longer needs it... :sarcasm: