NEW YORK TIMES
14 1963
STORE SETS BACK
DUTCH DIRE REPAIR
Wall Breaks Anew in Southwest
as Near-Draining of Previous
Flood Areas Is Announced
Special to The New York Times.
THE HAGUE, the Netherlands
April 13In a progress report on
the repair of flood-damaged dikes
the Netherlands Ministry of Traf
fic and Waterways announced to
day that 330,000 out of an original
360,000 inundated acres were dry
again.
Despite today's generally opti
mistic report, repair work was set
hack yesterday when a dike already
repaired broke anew in three places
and other minor breaks were re
ported elsewhere in the southwest
of the country.
The water level was at its high-
Jest since the flood of Feb. 1. On
the island of Schouwen-Duiveland
water rose twenty inches above the
expected spring-tide level.
Eleven of the original sixty-
seven dike breaks must still be
closed. The 375-yard wide break
at Schelphoek on the island of
Schouwen-Duiveland is the largest
and will probably be the hardest
to repair. The break may be closed
by the end of summer but it will
then take several months more to
pump dry the inundated polder
[reclaimed land] behind Schel
phoek.
William Drees, Netherlands
Premier, will go to Schouwen-
Duiveland Thursday to inspect the
difficulties of repair work.
Zuider Zee Is Set Back
It was reported today that the
work on repairing dikes and pump
ing land dry is setting the Zuider
Zee declamation project back a
year.
August G. Maris, Director Gen
eral of Waterways, said that plans
for closing the inlets of the south
west are still being studied by the
so-called Delta Commission. Its
interim report may be expected
within a month.
Yestreday's breaches were near
the town of Bruinisse, with a nor
mal population of 2,300. Civilian
volunteers hurriedly enlisted to
bring up sandbags, worked through
night and eventually closed two of
the breaks.
The third, now more than thirty
yards broad, may take several days
to close. Two thousand acres that
were dried a month ago were
again inundated.
Townspeople Are Warned
With single sandbags being
washed away by the hard current,
dike workers are piling sandbags
into nets, which they then put into
the breach. The water in the Bruin-
nisse streets is now one to two
feet deep.
The burgomaster has warned the
townspeople, who wei-e finally set>
to return to their homes from evac-
uation centers, not to come back;
as yet. It was even feared that I-
the townsfolk already on the spotl
might again be forced to take ref
uge in attics or on housetops. Some
were already leaving town.
The Dutch Heteorological Serv
ice explained that yesterday's high
water level originated with a
storm in the northern part of the
North Sea. The storm drove the
water northward and the gap was
filled by water drawn from the
relatively calm area to the south.
When the storm suddenly abated,
the water poured back from the
north to the south, flooding parts
of the Dutch coast.
I
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