The paper deals with hydrometeorological aspects of flood events occurred in the Meuse river in December 1993 and January-February 1995, describing the critical situation also along the dikes of the Rhine river in early 1995. These events where mainly due to widespread intense rainfall and wet antecedent conditions. A number of research topics are considered, from the multisite daily rainfall generation and probability distribution of n-days totals to the possible long term variations of seasonal rainfalls and their climatic implications, which are related to the Rhine and Meuse rivers, with emphasis on the design discharges for river dike construction and maintenance in the Netherlands.