Actually, those dikes do fail from time to time. What, [link|http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/04/issue/feature_gp_netherlands.asp|you didn't know that?]
Excerpts:
The Dutch acquired their hydraulic expertise partly in response to disaster. In 1953, a number of sea dikes in the southwestern part of the country gave way under a tidal surge. The disaster, which killed about 1,800 people, spurred one of the largest hydraulic projects in the country\ufffds history: the Delta Works...
Were Holland\ufffds dikes, dams, and pumping stations ever to fail again as they did in 1953..
I say:
...and they will, sooner or later..
Excerpt:
...a densely populated, 150-by-150-kilometer area would suffer from a catastrophic flood.
I say:
What you are is a [link|http://marlowe-essays.blogspot.com/2005/09/fly-swatting-mentality.html|fly swatter].
You won't catch me investing in Dutch real estate. And I'm staying away from beachfront property until the solar cycle cools down again.
Now be a good little boy and go put your finger in the dike.