Over the past week, the Meuse has shown its erratic side. Large amounts of water, tidal waves, landslides, flooded houses, entire areas have been completely wiped off the map. Terrible scenes. The LIVES partners are deeply saddened by all the pain this has caused with victims and wish everyone strength in cleaning up and overcoming this event. Fortunately, we also see the fraternization that this entails. Victims are helped to clean up homes, churches, neighbourhoods and shopping centres.
Volunteers have even come forward to clean up the banks of our rivers and streams. After all, they are also flooded with all kinds of organic and inorganic material that is now visible with the drop in water level. BUT! Please be patient! The LIVES partners have started organizing clean-up actions, these must take place as coordinated as possible!
Too dangerous
At the moment it is still too dangerous to clean up the banks and flooded areas. For that reason some organizations have decided to close off certain areas to the public. The soil and dikes are currently still too saturated, which means that there is a risk of collapse and submerging. This is not only dangerous for humans, but can also cause damage to, for example, dike bodies. In addition, there are items in the flooded areas that need to be removed with extra attention. This is done as soon as possible by own contractors of the LIVES partners or by specialized companies.
You can help!
To make the banks of our rivers and streams livable again, every helping hand is welcome. If you want to help clean up in the Netherlands, you can see on Maas Cleanup where, when and how you can safely participate. As soon as there is more information from Walloon, Flemish and German LIVES partners, we will add it to this post.
In the media
On 20 July 2021, the Dutch TV program Nieuwsuur (NPO) and the Dutch RTL news will report to the current situation and what is possible in terms of clean-up actions in what period.
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