Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-04-15
FLOODED by WATER.
The Great Inundntion In Ilolland.-An In.
tcrestinx Account Of tho Dikes and On.
all

The Great InundRttOn In uoloand..An In.
| tcrestInx Account Of tho Dikcs and On.
mails.
Dispatches from London announce
that the river dikes at Hertogenbosch in
Holland have failed to resist the pres
sure of the floods caused by the recent
storms and have been swept away by the
furious waters. BOis-le-Duc is forti-
fed city, situated at the confluence OF
the An and the Dommel, the united wa
ters Of which rivers, with those OF the
Beers and the Ley, discharge into the
Meuse, near tho village of Rosmalen, a
short distance to the northeast of the
city. Numerous canals, forming part
of, the main system, which extends
ACROSS the country from Maestricht ON
the Meuse to the same river three miles
north of Bois-le- Duo, intersect the latter
city and carry within its limits the wa
ters of the inundation. The level of the
plains of Holland is in some places as
much as sixteen feet below that of the
sea, and the main ivers are, in conse-
quence, considerably higher than the
general surface of the land they inter-
sect, being, like the Mississippi south
ward of Memphis, the aqueducts through
which the drainage of the more elevated
watersheds is conveyed to the sea. Tho
very low lands are drained more by ca
nails than rivers, and the banks of the
latter are, consequently, lined with
earthen dikes, by which the river waters
are confined and foundations prevented
after periods of heavy rains and storms.
These dikes, or levees along the rivers,
must not be confounded with the great
works which protect the coasts Of the
Netherlands from the encroachmeDts of
the North Sea. The ocean dikes are 30
massively built of earth and masonry,
protected by piling and fascines, as to
withstand the heaviest storms. But
previously to their being brought to
such perfection the most awful calami-
ties recorded in the history of tho low
countries were due to the failure of these
dikes to resist the assaults of the sea.
Holland is there protected by her dixie
system from external and internal
sources Of inundation, and the catas-
trophe at Hertogenbosch has been
caused by the" destruction of the river
dikes in its vicinity. The river Meuse
drains territory of between eleven and
twelve thousand square miles, and with
in the area in which the recent great
storm expended most of it's force. The
river became gorged with the food wa
ter suddenly poured into it. The united
waters of the Dommel, Aa, Ley and
Beers, which discharge into the Meuse
near Hertogenbosch, could not find an
outlet, and backed up on the down pour
ing floods from their own watershed,
causing an overtopping or bursting, fol-
lowed by total destruction Of the
dikes. Until the foods in the Meuse
subside there are no means of relieving
the inundated districts from the waters,
because they now form the basin into
which great deal of water from the
main river, in addition to that of their
own streams. finds its way. The wide
range of the calamity, the number of un-
fortunates involved and the general in
telests of the country demand that q
careful inquiry should be made by the
government of Holland into the causes
of these disastrous foundations and the
proper means of preventing their recur-
renee. By applying the results of such
all investigation to the protection of our
own Western valley lands vast amount
of money might be annually saved to the
count1y.-NeaO York Herald.