Police and military personnel are evacuating 800 people Friday from four villages in the low-lying northern Netherlands amid fears of a dike break following days of drenching rains, AP reported. Authorities said that a section of the dike along a major canal could give way and submerge hundreds of hectares (acres) of land under up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) of water. Yvonne van Mastrigt, chairman of the regional policy team that ordered the evacuation, said "the chance is small" that the dike will collapse, but the evacuations are a precaution. The evacuations 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Amsterdam come after a combination of torrential rain and powerful northwesterly winds have soaked the country and prevented water being pumped out to sea.
