During the major flood in mid-November in the Westhoek, the Flemish government set up the ‘Resilient Westhoek’ task force. The task force had to issue advice within a month to improve water management in the region and avoid similar disasters in the future.
The task force proposed a package of measures in mid-December and the Flemish government is now releasing 80 million euros to implement the recommendations. For example, 54 million euros has been provided for 2024 for measures that can improve water safety in the short term. In addition, a provision of 26 million euros has also been provided for further actions by 2025.
Additional resources will be provided for more dredging work, repairing and strengthening dikes and additional efforts will be made in the context of the Blue Deal. According to the Flemish government, about 70 measures will be taken in the short term. Cross-border cooperation with France must also be “continued and strengthened”.
“I am pleased that we can keep the promise to come up with a strong package of additional, structural measures in the fight against flooding and drought,” says Prime Minister Jan Jambon. According to Minister of the Environment Zuhal Demir (N-VA), the package of measures “puts a turbo on the Blue Deal and the climate adaptation plan”.
For Minister of Public Works Lydia Peeters (Open VLD), it is important to better protect the Westhoek, and by extension Flanders, against extreme weather phenomena. “We cannot afford to wait. Now we have had to deal with flooding, but in the summer this could just as easily be an extreme drought.”