2. During the floods in January/February 1995 three rivers courses of Maas,Waal and Nederrijn in the central delta area of the Netherlands were affected

3. In the winter the flooding was exceptional as a result of a long period od continuous intensive rainfall combined with snow melting due to abnormally in France,Belgium,Germany and The Nederlands for the last 60 years

4. Water impregnation and seepage severely weakened the water dikes as result of the prolonged period of flooding and the extreme height of the water level, near or over the critical level

5. On 30 January, evacuation of 75 000 inhabitants and their cattle began from the area of ’’Land van Maas en Waal’’, a ‘’waard’’ between the rivers in the central part of the Netherlands Fortunately the evacuation turned out to be only preventive,as no important dike failures occured, thanks to day and night monitoring