PalenQ

I have not read this anywhere but a friend who was landing in London a few weeks ago had caught the weather report that some dread storm was blowing thru the British Isles

and predictions of a normal high tide with a possible surge tide made London officials lower the Thames Barrier for the first time in an emergency.

I never saw this collaborated - did the barrier really go down? and if so was it the first time

I took a boat from Greenwich to the Thames Barrier just after the barrier, a giant gate across the Thames to prevent an expected sooner or later rip tide that would innundate large swathes of central London. If looking for an unusual London excursion i assume these boats still run.

It's not a scenic ride however as i remember but by lots of industrial detritus but a boat ride on the busy thames is always fun and seeing the barrier up close - i think there is an exhibition centre - was amazing.

Hope it works when needed.

flanneruk

It's raised, not lowered: the things you see aren't the barrier, but the counterweights. They go down when the barrier (which is underwater) comes up.

It's usually raised 3-4 times a year. There was a bit of a panic two weeks ago when there was supposed to be a high risk of a tidal surge along the east coast (apparently there's a kind of funnel effect between the mouth of the Thames and the bit of Holland opposite). It didn't happen here this time (though I think it did, a bit, in Holland), but it did in 1952 with widespread loss of life in East Anglia, and it's a constant threat every year.

flanneruk

- and yes. It was raised the other week. Twice in a day, apparently

fnarf999

The barrier has been closed ten times this year, and has averaged four closures a year since it was built.

The boat ride out to see the barrier is an awesome ride. &quot;Not a scenic ride&quot; and &quot;lots of industrial detritus&quot; are incompatible statements -- I'd rather see some lovely old detritus than the Houses of Parliament any old day. You go by the remnants of the ramp where Brunel launched the <i>Great Eastern</i>.

If I recall correctly the same boat will drop you at Greenwich, where you can visit the Observatory and other attractions.

PalenQ

fnar - i agree that scenic is in the eye of the beholder and it would be dramatically scenic to me as well

Last Jan i walked along the Thames Coastal F P from Greenwich proper to the Millenium Dome (O2 now) and we would probably rate this one of the most scenic footpaths in England

It's all thru unfathomably gritty areas - i remember some still active big plant as well as rotting detritus standing silent but sad sentinel to a glory day long gone for this area

The path snakes around these industrial wastelands till the Dome, another detritus of high aims of a more recent era.

PatrickLondon

&gt;&gt;I'd rather see some lovely old detritus than the Houses of Parliament any old day&lt;&lt;

I believe that's technically known as a distinction without a difference.

&gt;&gt;You go by the remnants of the ramp where Brunel launched the Great Eastern&lt;&lt;

Give us a wave - that's where I live.

PalenQ

Pat: Are you a yaddy?

Young alienated docklands dweller?

Or is that term outdated since i first read it a few decades ago?

Love that area though even in its gentrified state.

hetismij

In Holland all the Delta works barriers, the Schelde barriers etc were closed due to the storm. It was a combination of north west storm and spring tide that was the problem.
In the end a couple of Wadden Islands had a bit of flooding, and quite a bit of dune was lost, both on the islands and along the Noord Holland coast. Since the dunes form the main protection from the sea for theses areas they did their job, and are now being repaired ready for the next one. In reality the winds were just a normal autumn storm, and now where near as bad as one in October 2006 for instance. But that wasn't combined with the spring tide.
The distastrous flood was in the night of 31 January-1 February 1943. 1836 people drowned in the Netherlands that night, 175,000 Ha of land was flooded, and it was this disaster that let to the Delta works. More 300 people lost their lives in the UK that night.

PalenQ

Hetismij:

Begats a question i've been meaning to post

I'm interested in going to the Delta Works visitors centre and wonder if you've been there or know if it is work the trek

I've researched a bus that runs between Rotterdam and Middleburg i believe that stops at the center.

I assume you can clearly see the works, etc.

and i hope Holland never suffers such a flood of Biblical proportions again.

D U V

logos999

&gt;and quite a bit of dune was lost
Helgoland has lost about 1500 meters, that's basically all they have(had).

PatrickLondon

No, Pal, I believe the term is Slightly Antiquated Dockland Dweller, or SADDO.

hetismij

PalenQ,
there are three visitors centres for the Delta works. I went to Neeltje Jans (www.neeltjejans.nl/)years ago, accompaning my kids on a school trip, before it became the theme park it now is. I believe that the info centre for the Oosterscheldekering is still there amid all the fluff. It is possible to get there by train to Vlissingen and then a bus to the park. I can't honestly remember much about it - I was too busy stopping a bunch of 9 year old from falling in the water.

The other two are the Haringvliet, (www.expoharingvliet.nl/) accesible by bus from Rotterdam, and the newest, which closed for the first time the other week, the Maeslandtkering (www.keringhuis.nl)at Hoek van Holland. You can get to that by train to the Hoek then bike or taxi.


Of course if the strange British scientist (Pier Corbijn) is right we will need them a gain next week for his forecast superstorm. Not than anyone else seems to agree with him.