2023-11-17 09:55:00
King Philippe visited Diksmuide, in West Flanders, this Friday morning, amid floods hitting the province. The monarch visited the city’s crisis center and then met representatives of emergency services and flood victims.
“Stress is rising in Diksmuide. It was panic. Yesterday, all the people were outside. It was anxiety. People are wondering what is happening. We have a house and overnight, if we lose everything, it’s sad”confided Nathalie, a resident. “It’s good that the King is here today,” she pointed out.
This Friday, the King will also visit the disaster area of Merkem (Houthulst).
Efforts are still being made to promote the flow of water towards the sea. Additional pumping capacity has even been put in place in Nieuwpoort. But in certain municipalities, like Merkem, around twenty houses had to be evacuated.
In the Westhoek, the situation is stable at the moment, but firefighters fear a further rise in water levels. Heavy rain is expected again tomorrow, and therefore the level of the Yser could rise again. As a precaution, firefighters reinforced the level of the dikes. This Friday morning, the emergency services were called around thirty times. For comparison, they intervened 250 times on Thursday and 1,500 times on Tuesday.
Alexander De Croo also visited the Westhoek
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) and Flemish Minister of Internal Affairs Gwendolyn Rutten (Open VLD) visited the Westhoek on Thursday, which is experiencing major flooding.
They were able to see the efforts undertaken to strengthen the winter dike bordering the Blankaart reserve. Due to the heavy rains that have hit the region in recent days, the dike has come under increasing pressure. The occupants of 15 houses in Woomen (Dixmude) and ten in Merkem (Houthulst) were asked to evacuate preventively by the crisis unit of the province of West Flanders. Thursday afternoon, everyone had not yet left their homes.
Mr De Croo and Ms Rutten then visited a farm in Merkem in the presence of Mayor Jeroen Vandromme, before going to the fire station.
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