Officials from Louisiana, visiting the Netherlands in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, hailed Dutch know-how on Thursday and said they still had much to learn to prevent future flood disasters, Reuters reported. "We feel we've benefited from centuries of expertise," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat who, with a group of engineers, academics and businessmen from the U.S. state, toured Dutch flood control and water management systems this week. "Clearly, we have a lot of work ahead," she added. The U.S. government has committed about $3.1 billion to strengthen the New Orleans levees but views still vary on how to rebuild flood protection systems, strengthen against future storm surges and restore and protect wetlands and coastal areas. The Dutch stressed -- and their U.S. counterparts agreed -- that short-term measures would not protect low-lying lands from storms such as the two Category 5 hurricanes that devastated New Orleans, the Mississippi marshes and Louisiana coast last year. "Treat water in a mature way," said Johan van der Burg, vice president of the Regional Water Authority of Delfland, an area inhabited by 1.4 million people near the southwest coast. "When nature is too strong, we prepare," he said. At least 1,300 people in Louisiana were killed and one million displaced by Hurricane Katrina, while tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed. After suffering a similar calamity in 1953, when a massive North Sea storm breached the famed Dutch dikes in more than 450 places along the southwest coast, the Dutch spent nearly $15 billion over the next five decades improving flood defences. More than 1,800 people were killed in "the Misery of 1953", and in a vast engineering operation called the Delta Project, huge dikes were built and a complex system of flood gates was designed to keep the sea at bay. One system alone, the Maeslant storm surge barrier, cost $700 million to build and was completed only in 1997. The Louisiana visitors said they were struck by how the Dutch were constantly aware of the threat to their land and their lives with the full knowledge that nearly two-thirds of the country was below sea level. "I was impressed...the government spends time on constantly educating the public," Landrieu said. Landrieu said she was planning another trip in March or April, and her Republican counterpart, Sen. David Vitter, said he was planning to introduce a bill that could call for a nine-member water control committee. The Dutch reminded their visitors repeatedly that long-term thinking was crucial to preventing flood disasters, that they themselves are working on plans to cope with rising sea levels, sinking land and increased rainfall. Some new ideas include giving land back to the sea, creating flood plains and building floating buildings, roads and farms. "Our country may seem relatively safe," said Boudewijn van Eenennaam, Dutch ambassador to the United States, "But the Dutch can never be safe."
