Louisiana studies Dutch dams
Historical roles were reversed when top officials from hurricane-stricken Louisiana visited Zeeland province in the Netherlands this week. The delegation was led by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and included senators Mary Landrieu and David Vitter. Mr Fischetti told Radio Netherlands the US had until now failed to make use of that expertise, despite the earlier history of exchanging know-how. "Since the Dutch system has been built," he said, "the [US] Army Corps, as far as I understand from my own reporting, has not really sought any advice from the Dutch." Meanwhile, a timely warning against too much Dutch self-confidence came from leading flood expert Eelco Dykstra, who teaches at George Washington University. In his new book called Katrina In Europe, Professor Dykstra describes what happens when the fictional "Hurricane Celine" makes landfall in the Netherlands. Failing communications and a lack of backup from other countries lead to chaos and destruction on an even larger scale than in New Orleans. The lesson: state-of-the-art flood defences are one thing, but never say a disaster could not happen here.
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