NEW ^|ST!f i
Measures to Improve Warning
Service in ViewJuliana
Tours in Helicopter
Pledging Swift Steps
to Repair Damage, Warns of
Delays in Reclamation
STRESS IS ON PREVENTION
Special to The New York Times.
THE HAGUE, the Netherlands,
Feb. 9Premier Willem Drees
promised swift reconstruction of
the flood-ravaged regions of the
Netherlandsat the cost of delay
ing the great Zudre Zee reclama
tion project, if necessaryand told
Parliament tonight that the Gov
ernment was considering a plan to
make the country "floodproof" by
damming off North Sea inlets.
A fifty-seven-page memorandum
that will serve as the basis of a
full-dress debate in the lower
V house tomorrow recited the details
of the worst Dutch peacetime dis-
i aster in five centuries, what had
jbeen done to meet it and an
nounced the following program:
i| 1. A bill will be introduced soon
establishing central responsibil
ity for the repair of the more
than 100 gaps that resulted
from the gale-driven Feb.
floods.
12. Dike restoration will be started
immediately and carried out as
quickly as possible.
3. If necessary, the Government
will delay the draining of the
Yssel Lake, formerly the Zuyder
Zee, intended to create 538,000
acres of farmland and 10 per
cent to the nation's arable land.
4. The Government will investi
gate means of preventing a re
currence of the disaster, with
special emphasis on a plan to
cut off the North Sea inlets
that caused the trouble.
5. Increased alertness will be ob
tained by improving the warn
ing system, and there will be
better provisions for emergency
assistance and other measures.
Project Already Under Way
The Zuyder Zee reclamation
project is intended to create five
polders, or strips, of farmland,
leaving 312,500 acres of lake as a
fresh water reservoir. The work is
now in process on a dike to create
the 372,000-acre east polder, a
third of the new land area. The
plan originally was to complete
the reclamation by 1960.
The North Sea dam project,
which has been studied by engi
neers for some time but never has
received Governmenft approval,
would require seawalls between
the outer limits of the islands off
Zeeland to close off the eastern
Scheldt Estuary, the Grevelingen
Strait and the Haringvliet Strait,
and between the West Frisian Is
lands to the north to close off the
Wadden Sea,
This would leave the Rotterdam
waterway and the western Scheldt
as the only passages to the sea,
and would reduce the open sea-
coast from about 820 to 270 miles.
The plan, long regarded by the
Government as too expensive and
.too ambitious, has been now
brought to the fore under the pres
sure of last week's catastrophe.
The flood toll so far was spelled
out by Premier Drees in the fol
lowing figures: 1,395 known deadl
and a "further increase" feared;
65,798 evacuated from Zeeland, the
South Holland islands and the ad
joining mainland; 330,000 acres, or
5.7 per cent of the country's culti
vated land, flooded; 144,000 head
of livestock and horses lost out of
585,000 in the area.
The Premier gave no target date
for the completion of rehabilita
tion. Without attempting any,
money estimate of the damage, hel
said that flood loses "would have
repercussions on the whole eco-|
Associated Press
AFTER THE DELUGE: Residents of Gravendeel, the Nether
lands, dry their furniture and other household effects in the
sun after disastrous floods. Windmill in background is one of
hundreds being used to pump flood water from inundated areas.
nomic life of the country." He
added that Dutch industrial poten
tial was unscathed.
He paid tribute to United States,
British and other foreign aid, not
ing that helicopters had rescued
2,200 flood victims. Foreign troops
aiding the Dutch forces totaled
10,600, including 2,198 Americans.
The American Military Relief
Organization had reported that
United States helicopters had
erscued 853 persons and that am
phibious trucks had evacuated 656
from dangerous positions. Flying
boxcars dropped 119,000 pounds of
sandbags, four tons of fresh water
and rubber boots on Tholen Island.
Queen Juliana, flown by a Brit
ish pilot, made her first helicopter
flight to the stricken areas and re
ceived a hearty reception from her
subjects.
Jan Kip, 102 years old, an evac
uee from Duivland who was re
ported to be the oldest inhabitant
in Zeeland, said in a Rotterdam
evacuation center, "Why did you
save me and let the younger people
drown?"
Blizzards Hit Stricken Area
AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands,
Feb. 9 (A?)—New blizzards driving
over the flooded Dutch lands
brought further hazards and
misery today to the men repairing
the shattered dikes.
