Belgium/Walloon Region allocates some €2.5 million to Brabant municipalities to combat flooding
The Walloon government has released an envelope of 21 million euros to support municipalities in the fight against flooding. All will receive their envelope, including those that were not hit last summer. In addition to this money, they will also be offered support to help them choose and implement the projects best suited to their situation.
For Walloon Brabant, the grant amounts to 2.561 million euros. With just over 233,000 euros, Tubize has the most money. At the bottom of the ranking, La Hulpe will only receive around 30,000 euros. Several criteria were used to calculate the distribution, including the size of the municipalities and what they have already put in place to fight flooding.
Court-Saint-Etienne, with its feet in the Orne
Court-Saint-Etienne was badly hit in July and will receive some 95,000 euros. This will not solve all the problems, but the mayor is nevertheless satisfied. Work has already been done on the Dyle and the Thyle. Now we have to deal with the Orne, which overflowed in a totally unexpected way.
"We have to try to find out why the Orne overflowed and what measures can be taken, in consultation with the upstream municipalities, Mont-Saint-Guibert, Chastre and Walhain," explains Michaël Goblet of Alviella. Because once the water has gone down, it's too late. Work must be undertaken in Chastre and Walhain, where the Orne starts. What is important is that there be a discussion between the municipalities bordering this river. And by putting our resources together, we will certainly manage to do something better."
These discussions between neighbouring municipalities started several months ago. The province of Walloon Brabant is also around the table. It has promised to finance a study on the last overflow of the Orne and on the solutions to be envisaged to avoid a new catastrophe.
Source: www.rtbf.be
