(2 Feb 1995) Natural Sound
Emergency workers in the Netherlands continued working frantically early Thursday to reinforce dikes against rising floodwaters.
The floodwaters are having a huge impact on the country.
Up to 250-thousand people have been evacuated from low-lying areas and the cost of the flood damage could amount to some 47 (b) billion U-S dollars.
The Netherlands is bearing the downstream brunt of storms and flooding that battered parts of Germany, France and Belgium earlier this week.
Experts told Dutch television that the dikes were weakening and could be in danger of breaking by later today (Thursday).
The Netherlands has suffered flooding several times in the past three years,
And many Dutch are angry with the government, accusing it of having failed to take proper action to protect the river areas from flooding again.
Some are critical of environmentalists and the green political parties, who they claim have delayed plans to strengthen the dikes because of the impact this might have on the environment.
If the government decides to improve the centuries' old dikes, the costs could be enormous.
A member of the VVD political party told Dutch television that it could cost up to nine (m) million U-S dollars per kilometre of dike.
The Dutch government has not provided estimates as to the total cost of just the flood damage.
But a finance ministry spokesman said Wednesday that a figure of 47 (b) billion dollars was based on a worst case scenario.
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