The “Flood Risks and Safety in the Netherlands” Project has resulted in the further development and application of a new method that can be used to calculate the consequences of flooding. Detailed calculations have been made of the number of casualties and the economic losses resulting from various flooding scenarios for three dike rings. The consequences have been determined more globally for the remaining dike rings. In addition, new methods were applied to determine the probability of flooding. The essence of the method is that various ‘failure mechanisms’ can initiate a flood: not only extremely high water levels, but also instability in a dike or the failure to close a hydraulic structure on time.
