please empty your brain below
They're fantastic pictures and a great write up; a brilliant example of why I like reading your blog.

Terry | 07.10.14 - 7:24 a.m. | #

Super pics DG - great read too!

Kevin | 07.10.14 - 8:25 a.m. | #

Speaking as a retired water engineer - 'brilliant'

RogerB | 07.10.14 - 8:29 a.m. | #

Great pictures and write up. Thanks for sharing this.

Greg | 07.10.14 - 8:58 a.m. | #

I remember the posters up around London some thirty-plus years ago before the Barrier was built. They read "What will you do if London floods?"

I often wanted to write "Get very wet!" on them.

Bronchitikat | Homepage | 07.10.14 - 11:30 a.m. | #

Great pictures and an interesting read.

BlackCat | 07.10.14 - 12:22 p.m. | #

Brilliant. can somebody point me at an animation showing how all this works?

Rory | 07.10.14 - 1:26 p.m. | #

It's not an animation, but an illustration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thames_Barrier_-_simple_operation_diagram.png

BruceTenmile | 07.10.14 - 3:15 p.m. | #

Underspill: three metre gap you say, but the tweet says 3 feet.

dg writes: Ah yes, three feet, thanks.

Greg | 07.10.14 - 3:28 p.m. | #

Rory, I was interested too so I looked on youtube. Here are the 3 I looked at, all good and complementary to each other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvg2asACsG0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzrwUrlEdW0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maz1joFCwoQ

| 07.10.14 - 7:10 p.m. | #

When I visited at a tidal closure, after taking photos of the shiny piers I turned round to take photos of the shiny roof of the control building (http://goo.gl/maps/NtXJl), and immediately got harassed by a security jobsworth citing anti-terror laws. Is that why you don't have photos of it in your collection?

martxw | 07.10.14 - 7:42 p.m. | #

There weren't many security jobsworths around in the public areas, but I did bump into a couple of grumpy officious sods.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 07.10.14 - 7:51 p.m. | #

Somehow it seems worrying to think what might happen if even one of those barriers fails at the wrong time.

Interesting that the barriers have been used so much of late, compared to most years. You might consider doing a series on the possible water levels in London that a future world of rising sea levels might entail. Instead of the vanished rivers it would be the future shorelines of a post apocalyptic London.

dg writes: It wasn't a series, but...

john nez | Homepage | 09.10.14 - 2:38 a.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy