![](https://i.imgur.com/CLvY2jA.png")
02-07-2023, 12:19 PM
Karen McVeigh in London
Fri, 30 June 2023 at 12:00 pm SGT
The last time the Thames broke its banks and flooded central London was on 7 January 1928, when a storm sent record water levels up the tidal river, from Greenwich and Woolwich in the east as far as Hammersmith in the west.
......
Fourteen died and thousands were left homeless.
After another catastrophic North Sea storm surge in 1953 caused floods along the east coast of England that were even more deadly – killing 307 people
......
Three decades later, the Thames Barrier was completed. A colossal engineering project, it spans 520 metres (17,000 ft) of river near Woolwich and has so far protected 1.4 million Londoners (and about £320bn worth of properties) from more than 100 tidal floods.
......
The ocean, however, is rising.
......
It expects the barrier to continue to protect London until 2070 – but that to protect the capital up to 2100, as planned, the structure may need to be replaced.
That decision – whether to build a new barrier or upgrade the existing one – will wait until 2040, with all options remaining open until then
......
the EA’s own guidance also says the barrier should not be closed more than 50 times a year. If 50 becomes the norm, it says, the barrier could fail. The barrier was closed four times in the 1980s, 35 times in the 1990s, 75 times in the 2000s and 74 times in the 2010s.
Much more at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/...ect-london
Fri, 30 June 2023 at 12:00 pm SGT
The last time the Thames broke its banks and flooded central London was on 7 January 1928, when a storm sent record water levels up the tidal river, from Greenwich and Woolwich in the east as far as Hammersmith in the west.
......
Fourteen died and thousands were left homeless.
After another catastrophic North Sea storm surge in 1953 caused floods along the east coast of England that were even more deadly – killing 307 people
......
Three decades later, the Thames Barrier was completed. A colossal engineering project, it spans 520 metres (17,000 ft) of river near Woolwich and has so far protected 1.4 million Londoners (and about £320bn worth of properties) from more than 100 tidal floods.
......
The ocean, however, is rising.
......
It expects the barrier to continue to protect London until 2070 – but that to protect the capital up to 2100, as planned, the structure may need to be replaced.
That decision – whether to build a new barrier or upgrade the existing one – will wait until 2040, with all options remaining open until then
......
the EA’s own guidance also says the barrier should not be closed more than 50 times a year. If 50 becomes the norm, it says, the barrier could fail. The barrier was closed four times in the 1980s, 35 times in the 1990s, 75 times in the 2000s and 74 times in the 2010s.
Much more at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/...ect-london
