Thames Barrier to close against tidal surge – for third time this month
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Author: |
Rachael Collins |
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Date published: |
26-Nov-2007 |
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Keywords: |
flood, barrier, Thames, climate, TE2100 |
The Environment Agency began to close the Thames Barrier at 10am today, Sunday 25 November 2007, to protect London from a combined high tide and tidal surge in the Thames Estuary expected at 1:30pm.
This is the third closure in less than a month, with previous closures taking place on the 8th and 9th of November 2007. It is possible that further closures may also take place over the next few days to ensure the continued protection of London.
Tidal surges in the Thames Estuary of up to 1.2m are forecast due to a low pressure weather system over Norway – which causes Northerly winds over the North Sea. These winds then push the water down between Holland and the East Coast of the UK, causing a hump of water to make its way down the North Sea.
Thanks to the Thames Barrier, which provides a world class level of protection (currently around a 0.05 per cent risk of flooding in any given year), London’s 1.25 million people and the infrastructure on which it is dependent will be unaffected by these significant surges.
Andy Batchelor, Thames tidal flood risk manager, said: “We monitor weather and tidal systems 24 hours a day 365 days a year, so we are always at the ready to close the Barrier if needed. This is the third time the Barrier has closed this month – which illustrates how crucial a role it plays in protecting our Capital.”
The Thames Barrier provides an excellent level of protection from flooding but climate change and sea level rise means that level of protection will gradually decline, as planned, to a 1:1000 year (or 0.1 per cent) risk of flooding by the year 2030. This is still a very high standard of protection, but if improvements are not made in the future this will continue to fall.
Fortunately the Environment Agency is already preparing for this through its Thames Estuary 2100 project – which is looking into flood risk management for the Thames Estuary for the next 100 years. The results of this study will be available in 2008.
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Doc reference: |
RC/268/07 |
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Contact: |
