国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

   

Storm surge hits Dutch, British coasts

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-09 19:33

HEADLAND NEAR ROZENBURG, Netherlands - The Netherlands and Britain closed sea defense barriers, airlifted North Sea oil rig workers and evacuated thousands of people from homes as a storm sent a 3-metre tidal surge along their coasts.


Waves crash into the sea defences at Southwold in Suffolk, eastern England, during strong winds, high tides, and tidal surges, November 9, 2007. [Agencies]

British police told people to leave their homes as the east coast braced for severe flooding in the face of the surge coinciding in places with high tides.

In the early hours of Friday, the surge struck the southern coast of the Netherlands but did not breach the storm barrier near the port city of Rotterdam.

Late on Thursday spectators braved rain and wind to watch as the Maeslant barrier's two arc-shaped steel doors shut for the first time since its construction in the 1990s. The barrier closed the waterway that connects Rotterdam, Europe's biggest port, to the North Sea.

Rotterdam, a major transit point for oil, coal, grains and other commodities, was expected to stay shut to shipping for the rest of the day, affecting about 60 ships.

Britain's Met Office said north-westerly winds exceeding 50 mph were coinciding with low pressure and high tides to produce the exceptional conditions. The Thames Barrier which protects London from flooding was closed late on Thursday.

Weather experts had invoked images of the major floods of 1953 that killed more than 2,000 people in eastern England and the Netherlands, but a Dutch transport ministry spokesman said early on Friday the flood defenses seemed to have held.

Hundreds of oil and gas workers were airlifted from North Sea platforms, after forecasters predicted 20-metre (66 foot) waves and wind gusts of more than 100 km per hour (62 mph). On Friday production was starting up again.

The Dutch ministry spokesman said water levels had reached 3.16 meters above mean sea level in the southern Netherlands and subsided again but were now peaking in the north at 3.40 meters above sea level, with no flooding reported. Some southern barriers have already been opened.

The floods of 1953 saw Dutch waters rise to 3.85 meters (12 ft 7 inches) above sea level.

   1 2   


Top World News  
Today's Top News  
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
新巴尔虎右旗| 玉屏| 贵阳市| 武邑县| 巴林左旗| 塔河县| 石楼县| 乌审旗| 永清县| 岐山县| 信阳市| 乌拉特后旗| 浦江县| 黔东| 武宣县| 诸城市| 巴楚县| 广宁县| 东港市| 新龙县| 建德市| 凤山市| 宁都县| 靖远县| 招远市| 子长县| 肥西县| 米易县| 芮城县| 海口市| 辽阳市| 黄石市| 观塘区| 瑞安市| 巴塘县| 寻甸| 义马市| 师宗县| 根河市| 宣城市| 宣恩县|