Tim Abbott - 24-Jan-2008
- The Environment Agency began closing the
Thames Barrier today at 2pm today due to
spring tides and high
river levels.
The Environment Agency
still has 19 Flood Watches in force across
London, the Thames Valley and Oxfordshire.
This includes a Flood Watch for River Thames
from Dartford Creek to the Thames Barrier
issued today. Spring tides combined with
high rivers will result in high levels downstream
of the Thames Barrier.
It will open again at
approximately 4.30pm. After the Thames Barrier
has reopened we will monitor the weather
and tides closely.
Andrew Batchelor, Thames
tidal flood risk manager, said: “This is
a standard procedure for us when we have
high spring tides combined with high flows
in the river from heavy rain. Our 24-hour
control room constantly monitors the situation
and the forecast levels require us to close
the Thames Barrier to perform its role and
prevent flooding in the capital.
“We are continuing to
monitor the weather and tidal situation
closely and we will close the Thames Barrier
again should we need to protect the 1.25
million people living and working in London’s
floodplain.
“This is the 107th time
we have closed the Thames Barrier, and it
serves as a reminder to us all that living
in the flood plain is never without risk.”
Members of the public
can check their level of risk and find out
what they can do to protect themselves from
flooding by visiting www.environment-agency.gov.uk.
The Thames Barrier is
one of the largest moveable flood barriers
in the world, protecting 125 square km of
central London – and the 1.25 million people
and the infrastructure on which London is
dependent.
The Thames Barrier and associated defences
currently provide London and most of the
Thames Estuary with a flood defence standard
of about 1:2000 years (0.05 per cent risk
of flooding in any given year) – a world
class level of protection. With sea level
rise, 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 the defence standard
will continue to fall ultimately reaching
unacceptable levels of risk.
The Environment Agency is already addressing
this and is currently looking into flood
defence for the Thames Estuary for the next
100 years (TE2100). The results of this
study will be available in 2008.
