March, a few years ago. In the Alps the snow had melted and so the yearly ritual of flooding European rivers happened. And while the Netherlands had built a new Atlantic wall to face the great North Sea, they had forgotten the dikes along the rivers. In fact they had been stupid enough to build houses on the Uiterwaarden (lands which are suposed to be flooded in such situations).
That spring, the danger came from the other side. The Dutch felt safe behind their massive dikes, their Delta-works and storm surges, when suddenly, the high and hilly province of Limburg flooded. The first to come to the rescue were asylum-seekers. Usually looked down upon by the natives, they arrived before the army. For them this was a lucky chance to escape the bores of their prison and to do something for the people who had given them shelter.
Soon the rest of the river-delta flooded too. It was in no comparisson with the devastating floods caused by the sea decades ago, but still it turned the country upside down.
I remember I was drinking coffee with two students from India. The day before they had called their family back home.
" We can't go to school", they had said.
" Why not?"
" Because Holland is flooded and the trains won't go."
" How bad is it?"
" Some ten centimeters of water on the rails."
Laughter...
" Ten centimeters? Realy? Does it never rain in Holland?"
In India the trains didn't stop for less than a meter of water. They had monsoons every year.

Today there's a weather-alert. Appearantly there's going to be some 10cm of snow. Traffic will be dramatically disrupted and the trains' schedule has been adapted. I wonder how hard the Norwegians will laugh.