Even historic pumping stations put in use due to heavy rain

Wetterskip Fryslân will start operating the historic pumping station Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal in Lemmer on Saturday to drain water from lakes, canals and waterways in the province. Additional pumping capacity is needed to pump out the large volume of rainwater and prevent flooding, the Dutch water board said. The Woudagemaal station is expected to remain in operation on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and will be open to the public starting Sunday.

The Woudagemaal from 1920 is the largest steam pumping station ever built. The pumping station is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as it is the last working steam pumping station in the world. Wetterskip Fryslân operates the pumping station several times a year and also uses it when the normal polder pumping stations and sluices cannot handle the amount of rainwater. Together with the Hoogland pumping station, the Woudagemaal drains around 14 million cubic meters of water every 24 hours.

The Rivierenland Water Board expects the Linge river to overflow its banks west of the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal in the course of Saturday. The Linge river takes water from the Merwede Canal.

Furthermore, residents of Geldermalsen, Leerdam, and Vijfheerenlanden were warned to expect flooding. Warning signs were also posted in the municipalities. Also, millers have offered to help remove the excess water, the water board said. They warned that this should only be done in consultation with the water board, otherwise there will be flooding again elsewhere.

Many water boards operated additional pumping stations and installed additional pumps because of the amount of rain that has already fallen and is still expected.

Furthermore, the Vechtstromen water board has placed sandbags at the Hancate weir near Hellendoorn in the province of Overijssel to prevent flooding of the Regge River.

In addition, the small Rijkswaterstaat sea lock in Delfzijl was put into operation to discharge more water from Drenthe and Groningen into the Wadden Sea.