Coast “not ready” for the coming storm
The Flemish coast is not ready to face a super-storm, according to a group of experts meeting last week in Ostend at a conference organized by the nature conservancy organisation Natuurpunt. “If the storm should come, we’ll be once more able to swim to Bruges,” said one speaker.
Meteorologists talk of the 100-year storm, expected to occur once in a century. However, that was before global climate change increased the chances of storms, and rising sea levels threatened low-lying areas, like the coastal regions of West Flanders. According to current estimates, the level of high tide along the 67 kilometres of the coast could rise by 14cm to 93cm by the year 2100.
The experts proposed a plan: a series of natural measures intended to protect coastal areas and the polder hinterland from the effects of such a 100-year-storm. They include broader and reinforced dune areas, flood basins and constructed oyster reefs.
