Flood control in other countries

The New York Times has a very good article about the practice of flood control in other countries. Some of you may recall the terrible 1953 storm in the North Sea that flooded an extensive amount of Holland, and at one point threatened the city of Rotterdam much in the way that New Orleans now suffers. In response, the Dutch built the most advanced seawall and flood protection system in the world. Perhaps we can take a page from what has been done in Holland, London, Venice, Japan and even Bangladesh. All of these low-lying countries have mixed engineering and nature to successfully fight the forces of nature. It's a good read. If we could do it all over again, I'm sure that the money spent to improve the levee system of south Louisiana would look cheap compared to the incredible cost to our economy and society.