Alert for further storms

The forecast for the coming days is for stormy weather. The wind will increase in strength on Thursday and Friday, reaching gale force.
We also expect some rain. That is a lot of water, but not extreme amounts. 
The water authority on alert. Heavy rain and wind will cause water levels inland to rise. Our pumping stations are currently working pumping stations drain excess water to the large buffer: Lauwersmeer. We will hold the water there until we can drain the excess water into the sea. This will prevent flooding. We may need to discharge the excess water a few times over the coming days. We do not expect any problems.

Wind direction is difficult to predict.

The stormy wind is swirling around the front, as it were. This makes it difficult to predict the wind direction. On Thursday, the KNMI expects a storm of 90 km per hour in our area. On Friday, the wind will be even stronger, reaching speeds of up to 100 km per hour at times. 

When the wind blows from the northwest, the chance of high tide at sea is greatest. This increases the likelihood that the water authority will have to close coupures at Delfzijl. The water authority always receives a warning from Rijkswaterstaat 12 hours before the expected high tide. From that moment on, the water authority (together with the neighbouring Hunze en Aa's water authority) will also communicate on the matter. It is still too early for that at this point.