from the archives. but it does look like this this morning it was lying on the road at sea level yesterday.
Hereford was stranded no roads in to the city all were flooded quite badly Few road around were flooded too Red warning on river levels today
I remember parking the car inTewkesbury at the confluence of the Avon and the Severn rivers. The water level at that time was so high and fast that I went back moved the car uphill! Scary stuff!
@portboy are you above river level there mate? I read Wales got a drenching (and Im not talking about the Rugby) just not read your wise insight since you left for the train station yesterday.
I saw a TV programme yesterday about how they need to upgrade the flood defences in London. This is because they are worried about rising sea levels and excessive rainfall. They are saying the Thames Flood Barrier is no longer enough. Well, I think that is because they actually knew it never would be if it came to a really high tidal surge....it was obvious that it would overspill the riverbank defences in other areas (say, Grays for example) and it would eventually flood into the City via roads etc. Apparently there are about 20 rivers which are now underground because of development so they are going to open some up so they have natural flood plains in various areas. OK, it all sounded good until some smug young architect, supposedly an expert in floating structures and communities, appeared. He seemed to think we should make more use of these floating structures to alleviate some of the flooding problems, particularly on the Thames, with whole communities living in them. Unfortunately, in the back of my mind, as he was relaying his ideas, I couldn't help thinking that if he dumped a load of his floating structures in the Thames, the displacement would cause quite a rise in the water level.
I don’t think the displacement would cause much difference in river level unless the obstruction is so substantial that river flow past them was substantially reduced, and even that would only create a local weir effect.
That’s already an issue if it’s been raining hard when a storm surge arrives. Shutting the barrier stops the sea coming back up the river, but does nothing to stop the river flow into a closed lagoon. If you divide the volume of water displaced by these new islands by the area of the Thames in London, that’s gives how many mm of water the river would rise by (Temporarily), but the displaced water would quickly flow out to sea. In theory, sea level would rise by a small amount because of this, but I don’t reckon you could measure the change as it wouldn’t be as much as a micron.
If the tidal/surge level is higher than the inside barrier level, how can the inside displaced water flow into it? Anyway, where is the closed lagoon in the Thames (apart from Richmond and places like that)?
By closed lagoon I meant the Thames itself when it’s isolated from the sea by the closed barrier. Close the barrier at low tide and that gives a maximum capacity before the stored river water takes the level up to the high tide level. A further cause of flooding in the lower lying parts of London is the rainwater that can’t flow into the Thames and its tributaries when the Thames is already full, whether because of the state of tide, or because the barrier is shut.
Who was originally responsible for the idea that the British Isles are habitable? I'm not disappointed - just angry.
