River Rhine Floods 1995 | Background Information

...In February 1995, the Rhine and its tributaries (the Meuse and the Mosel), burst their banks in France Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Large areas of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands) were flooded and many major towns were threatened.

The Dutch have defended themselves against the sea for centuries by an elaborate network of dykes 2,500 km (1,500 miles) long but, this time the floodwaters came from the rivers, from water flowing as a result of heavy rainfall in the Ardennes and a flood of melted snow in the Alps. For two years running, levels of flooding have occurred that, statistically, would normally happen only once a century. The flood waters swamped farmland, much of it in the polder regions, where the land had been reclaimed from estuaries and river basins.

...however, that flood led to measures:

Water Conflict and Cooperation/Rhine River Basin - WaterWiki.net

In 1995 in the Netherlands, some 200,000 people had to be evacuated because of imminent flood risks from the rivers Rhine and Meuse. Within months a lex specialis (special law) was passed to construct or improve about 750 km of dikes and levies before the year 2000.

...and Nomad's link was about further measures for the future, both in relation to seas and rivers, and specifically mentioning floodplains. In addition, the floodplain issue is specifically addressed by the separate Room for the River plan.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}