Artificial sandbanks may be key to protecting Belgian coast

Flanders’ minister of public works, Hilde Crevits, has told a conference on super storms that three artificial sandbanks might be built to protect the Belgian coastline between Zeebrugge and the Dutch border. The last of the sandbanks would extend into Dutch coastal waters off the town of Cadzand.

Crevits was speaking at the international SuperStorm conference, held earlier this week on the pier in Blankenberge (pictured). The minister argued that sandbanks would not help to protect the coastline between the French border and Zeebrugge, but a chain of three proposed sandbanks could defend the coast to the east of Zeebrugge. She also talked about extending the port of Zeebrugge to provide an additional barrier.

The idea of constructing artificial islands is included in the Coastal Defence Plan. The city of Antwerp has also drawn up a plan to protect the city from flooding in the event of a super storm.   

This week was the second edition of the SuperStorm conference, which featured academics, politicians and other expert speakers, including Belgium’s North Sea minister Johan Vande Lanotte, VTM meteorologist Dr David Dehenauw and Andrew Gilham, the flood and coastal risk manager for the British Environment Agency.

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