The water pumping stations in Brabant are running at full speed, the dikes are regularly checked and the ground is saturated. Yet the Brabant water boards are not worried. “Everything is under control and things are going as they should,” says Kelly van Lith of the Aa en Maas water board. In the meantime, the fire brigade is busy with sewers that cannot cope.
Nationally, the Union of Water Boards calls managing high water a challenge. “It has been scaled up, especially in the east of the country,” says a spokesperson. Pumps transport water to places where there is still room for storage.
Full sponge
The spokesperson speaks of a challenge, because the soil is saturated due to the large amount of precipitation: “The sponge is completely absorbed.” Water that falls normally flows away into the rivers, but ‘they are now completely full’.
In Brabant, it is mainly the fire brigade that receives reports about flooding. For example, at the Zandleij Landgoed recreation park in Cromvoirt, the water reaches the front door of several houses. In Kaatsheuvel, water came up from the toilets of restaurant Het Wapen van Kaatsheuvel. The sewer system could no longer handle the water there. The same happened at at least 100 holiday homes at the Kanthoeve recreation park in Bakel. According to a spokesperson for the park, the fire brigade could not help because the water must be at least 20 centimeters high.
Warning
In many places rivers have overflowed their banks and floodplains have been flooded. The water boards warn people not to drive on cycle paths that are flooded: “That’s just crazy.” Parking your car on a water-saturated dike is also not a good idea, because damage can occur.
The biggest bottleneck in the coming days will be the Rhine, due to the heavy rain in the catchment area, according to the Union of Water Boards. A peak of 14.90 meters above NAP is expected at Lobith on December 28. At that water level, for example, the Waalkade in Nijmegen floods.
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