The giant metal walls keeping London above water

They’ve kept London safe from floods since the ’80s. But there’s a problem.
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For most of the 20th century, Londoners along the Thames River faced a high risk of floods. Storms like the 1953 North Sea Storm resulted in the deaths of hundreds and the displacement of thousands of people, and spurred discussions on how to protect London from future disasters.
By the 1980s, engineers introduced a solution: the Thames Barrier. This impressive structure comprises multiple moving metal gates that can halt water flow during potential flood events. Since its creation, London has successfully avoided costly storm-related death and destruction, inspiring other coastal cities to model their defense systems after the Thames Barrier.
But today’s changing climate and rising sea levels are challenging the integrity of London’s anti-flood walls. From 1980 to 1990, the barrier was closed only four times; from 2010 to 2020, the barrier was closed 50 times. It was never designed for such frequent use.
In response to evolving weather patterns, the UK government created the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan, a future-looking plan that monitors and adapts the metal gates in response to tide data. With each decade, the plan outlines potential upgrades to the existing barrier and the construction of additional flood defenses. The plan hopes to futureproof London, but whether or not the Thames Barrier will stand the test of time will also depend on how climate change reshapes the world.
Learn more about the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan (TE2100):
www.gov.uk/gov...
Read more about why the Thames Barrier is due for an upgrade:
www.ft.com/con...
Read more about the imminent risks to the flood defense walls:
www.theguardia...
Dive into the data about Thames Barrier closures:
www.gov.uk/gui...
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[@Tony.H03]

Obligatory Dutch person bragging about the Delta works comment: Pfff, that's nothing compared to the Delta works on the Schelde in Zeeland.

[@jeremy_leung]

Zeker

[@bensoncheung2801]

69 👍

[@jaanyang]

As a civil engineer myself… the Dutch have a far more impressive system of water and flood management than the British

[@tvuser9529]

And the Delta works can be biked over. Acts as both flood protection and as bridges.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

​@@tvuser9529 If you've got the right hi-vis, you can bike across the Thames here at any time, tide or position of the barriers. Howso? Through the "secret" maintenance access tunnels buried beneath the whole structure, underwater resting beds for the barriers when open and of course the riverbed itself. Quite a bit of engineering, this!

[@butterflygroundhog]

As a formerly avid watcher of Vox, I am highly disappointed by the drop in production quality over such a short time span. This video only has a single source and doesn't go into any details whatsoever. I am left with more questions than answers after finishing this video, and I have nowhere to be directed towards.

[@UditKhandelwalmaakad]

I agree. The lack of depth and feeling of incomplete-ness in videos lately has been saddening. Is this the same production house that made the Netflix Explained series?

[@solehsolehsoleh]

Watch Tom Scott's video about it.

[@Mister.Unknown]

Not to mention that the overall sentiment attempted to deliver to the viewer is "Lifesaving infrastructure slowly deteriorating, you can do nothing about it"

[@isabelleeccles7387]

Could they be using ai?

[@QuintusAntonious]

I'm still enjoying Vox's videos, but I do miss some of their former team members. A lot of their former content contributors and producers have started their own channels and have pretty decent quality videos that may be worth your time. Check out Howtown (Joss Fong), Cleo Abrams, and Phil Edwards channels.

[@o0GoldSoundz0o]

As a U.K. citizen (who went to the Thames barrier on school trips back in the day) I must admit I LOL’d at the compliment about the U.K. government’s willingness to plan for the future… if only! 😂

[@sirensynapse5603]

Sure, they're planning to saddle future generations with absolutely crushing debt. That's planning too!

[@user-op8fg3ny3j]

Labour maybe. Tories, never

[@andaddplus]

​@@user-op8fg3ny3j only REFORM cares

[@thomascampbell9030]

Maybe if your postcode is in London, otherwise good luck.

[@AirQuotes]

A stopped clock is right twice a day. Plus, London always gets priority

[@Coolasivy]

put pickford in the river

[@sirensynapse5603]

Why, prithee?

[@KumarVibhav]

That's harsh

[@chryno9600]

underrated comment. audibly laughed

[@kozmaz87]

I am fairly certain the UK did not inspire the Dutch who have been doing the draining of the Polder for over 200 years now with all sorts of dams and barriers.

[@wildanfatihg]

What is shown on the video is the Oosterscheldekering. The Dutch previously planned to completely dam the Oosterschelde (as you said, like what the Dutch had been doing for hundreds of years), but that would mean the destruction of all the local fisheries, as the water behind the dam would turn into freshwater. So the Dutch decided to scrap the dam project and turned it into a storm surge barrier that can be opened or closed at will, of which the concept has been proven previously by the Thames Barrier.

[@kozmaz87]

hm thanks. One learns something every day.

[@coenijn]

Since the 13th century actually, when the St Elizabeth flood occurred in Holland, Friesland and Zeeland. However polderen really started picking up steam in the 17th and 19th centuries. Then in the 20th century some truly massive waterbodies were drained, such as de Flevopolder, Noordoostpolder and Wieringermeerpolder. Along with this came the Delta works after the North Sea Flood of 1953.

[@JacobBax]

@@wildanfatihg In the netherlands they started with the barrier in 1976, thats 2 years after the UK started the Thames Barrier (1974), both barriers took 10 year to complete. So how was the Thames Barrier concept proven, 8 years before finishing.

[@SebastianD334]

@@JacobBax also keep in mind, that they started building the artificial island Roggenplaat that's also part of the project back in 1969

[@leoiceberg9792]

I can see from the comments that I am not the only Dutch person commenting here, which puts a smile on my face. But what actually made me lose that smile is how this video implies around 4:56 that this flood barrier whose construction started in 1974 possibly inspired the Deltaworks in the Netherlands, whose construction started in the 1950s! If you wanna see commitment to safety from water, look at Dutch history and its ongoing battle as Europe's drain. This video also references a disaster in 1953, If this is the North Sea Flood of '53 (watersnoodramp in Dutch), then I find it very suspicious not to mention that while the disaster hit England, it also hit the Netherlands & Belgium. I understand that it may result in too much content to cover, but this one movable wall is far from the best commitment of a government to keep its country safe from floods in Europe.

[@marekdg]

The footage that they used between 0:09 - 0:14 is Dutch if I’m correct Kind of funny what they chose to mention and what they chose to display 🤫

[@leoiceberg9792]

@@marekdg You are correct. Technically there is no fault as they mention how the North Sea Flood killed a lot of people in Europe. But because of the pace and the subsequent subject, I am willing to bet that a lot of viewers may not notice that more European countries than just England have been dealing with this ongoing problem.

[@justanordinaryaccount9910]

​@@leoiceberg9792 cope

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

Methinks the lady doth protest too much! 0:07 seconds in "the 1953 North Sea storm that killed over two thousand people throughout Europe." As a Londoner, I would be justified in nitpicking the narrator's 0:02 "disastrous 1928 Thames flood that _displaced_ thousands" not mentioning the deaths of servants drowned in windowless cellars. May I suggest that you Look* before you leap! *At the transcript, or listen again.

[@talmah5341]

@@leoiceberg9792 "I am willing to bet that a lot of viewers may not notice that more European countries than just England have been dealing with this ongoing problem." nonsense from the insufferable dutch

[@andreiakopian]

The explanations are terrible. 9000 tones? 118 swimming pools? Those numbers mean nothing and don't help with building an understanding with what's going on. There are other KZbin videos by big educational channels that have covered the topic and done a better job.

[@grindupBaker]

You are entirely correct. What a barrier must withstand is "pressure" (and of course have the required height) and also it would be correct to give kinetic energy in some form because that's "impact" pressure, but it's always pressure, not the mass of water on one side of the barrier except when it's a horizontal barrier like the bottom of a bucket or bath tub.

[@IvoPavlik]

It's for the US audience 😉

[@Valery0p5]

*coff* Tom Scott *coff*

[@miloraddjurdjic1695]

What is wrong with tones? Gram,kilo gram,1 tone is 1000 kg

[@Timewastedonyt]

Quality of this video is definitely lacking

[@learningCodingWithMe]

I can only remember Tom Scott's video about this gate. I miss him and his videos, he really is a remarkable, hard-working man and really made a difference with his work and ethics.

[@1995TheDude]

I think Vox covered the Thames barrier, because they didn't want to try to pronounce Oosterscheldekering

[@Chomp-Rock]

Frankly I'm surprised they pronounced 'Thames' correctly.

[@RendererEP]

As someone who lives in London along the Thames but East of the barrier, I'm proud to be a necessary sacrifice 🫡

[@Kris_96]

What this video didn't mention is how the barrier actually operates and that it isn't just a "wall" that goes up or down. It spins and rises like that, which still allows for water underneath to pass through so fish etc. can pass through but the high tide water cannot. It's very smartly designed and muuuuuuuch better than the barrier in Italy that they didn't account for sand being stuck in the hole for the barriers.

[@Timewastedonyt]

Yeah I clicked on the video as I was interested in how it operates but this video lacks the most interesting this is was disappointed 👎

[@Vile_Entity_3545]

I regularly cross the Thames on the Woolwich ferry and the barrier is only half a mile away, so a great view to behold every time.

[@JG-ib7xk]

Once you've seen one Thames barrier you've seen them all

[@mehere8038]

2:10 ....118 swimming pools is nothing for a barrier that size & depth. That has to be a mistake, surely?

[@harshpanwar5963]

'large' swimming pools they said. They must be very very large.

[@mehere8038]

@@harshpanwar5963 indeed

[@timothyschollux]

4:54 - With the construction commencing in 1974, the British inspired the construction of the Delta works, with its construction starting in - **checks notes** - 1960. Ah yes, by means of the royal time machine. Splendid!

[@The_Opinion_of_Matt]

Ultimately, this is a band-aid on the bullet hole that is Climate Change.

[@ronlacker326]

You'll need a massive band aid on your brain. Your IQ is dropping rapidly. I know this cause you buy into this climate change nonsense.😂😂

[@andybaldman]

There are so many errors in this.

[@Beep-Beep-Imasheep]

wdym?

[@tsptcod]

Nice to see this guy is a Colin Furze fan. Keep on Digging picture hanging behind him. 😂

[@rowena9918]

The Thames Barrier is the second largest flood defence barrier in the world. The Oosterscheldekering Barrier in the Netherlands is the largest.

[@kimoota-kun]

Both are driven by necessity unfortunately.

[@HughNeylan]

Your intro has a key fact incorrect: the 1953 floods mostly impacted Norfolk (100+ miles east of London). So it isn’t correct to say “Since then, this region hasn’t experienced such catastrophic floods, mainly due to this: the Thames Barrier”. 0:30 Parts of London were impacted particularly Barking. But this area is downstream from the barrier so if the barrier were in place it wouldn’t have had an impact.

[@willietorben560]

The Wash area is where the water will come in. London is cosmetics; good luck trying to build flood defenses in the Farangist heartland.

[@mal2ksc]

Actually if the barrier were there, it would have had an impact. the flooding immediately downriver will be amplified since the water will go sideways if it can't go forward.

[@abxorb]

4:56 Ah yes, the Netherlands, that country that famously needs inspiration from 1974 UK for a flood barrier, also which the Dutch started in 1969. /s

[@oldblackstreet]

2:33 Keep on Digging Colinfurze!

[@Mar_Ten]

4:50 I am not sure if you can say their success inspired the Ooscherschelde Kering as they were built during the same period.

[@jasonhaven7170]

The Dutch built theirs after

[@marekdg]

They started to build the Oosterscheldekering in 1969. And the Thames Barrier in 1974 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@JacobBax]

@@marekdg The movable part of the Oosterscheldekering started in 1976, both took 10 years to build.

[@davetreadwell]

I had the pleasure of working for one of the divers responsible for welding/assembling much of the barrier's "doors"

[@andybaldman]

Nobody cares, mate.

[@VestaRoleplay]

that's nice man:D did the diver explain what he did exactly for welding under water or assembling the door?

[@davetreadwell]

@@VestaRoleplay yeah, assembling the rotating door in situ - went on to be a specialist saturation diver and worked all over the world, spending much of his time in pressure vessels!

[@VestaRoleplay]

@@davetreadwell wow that's really cool:0 i'm a diver in the canadian armed forces. a specialist saturation diver is one of my goals if i go civil. Thanks for sharing:D

[@ericcartmansh]

Something like this is what Mumbai needs, rearchitected to the specific geography of the city. Of course in parallel fixing the other infra problems

[@salemsaberhagan]

Yeah they're still building that metro AND they built an unnecessary elevated sea-route/bridge that's an environmental committee reject. Large parts of the city are literally built on "reclaimed" land. Fixing the colonial era sewers & preparing the newer ones in even barely comparable designs alone would be a big way to prevent the deaths that already happen every year, including the ones from manual cleaning of the drains without protection. Trying to control the sea & keep it out is impossible in a monsoon climate, let alone when you've built on top of the marshes & ripped up the mangroves.

[@apjapki]

The Thames barrier is great for people who live on the side that is protected by it.

[@aspuzling]

Americans trying to use metric challenge: 520m, 9000 _tons_ (should be 9000 tonnes), 118 _large swimming pools_...

[@timfagan816]

The three types are all a measure of mass (weight) the short ton aka US ton is 2,000/lbs. The long ton aka Imperial (British) ton is 2240 lbs. The third ton is the metric tonne which is, equal to 1000 kilograms, or approximately 2204 pounds.

[@aspuzling]

@@timfagan816 I tried to find the original source of that stat and while I can't find anything authoritative, all the sources I found state 9000 tonnes, not tons. (I don't even know what the stat means but that's a different matter).

[@mehere8038]

A standard large swimming pool (Olympic pool) is 50 metres long & about 20 metres wide & about 2 metres deep, so 118 of these worth of water is nothing, I think something has to be wrong somewhere in the measurements for 20 metre high x 520 metre long barriers

[@aspuzling]

​@@mehere8038 9,000 tonnes of water is 9000 cubic metres. If we're talking about olympic sized pools, that's only enough to fill 3.6 pools. If you divide 9000 cubic metres by 118 that's 76.2m³. At a depth of 1.2m, that would give you pool dimensions of about 5.6m x 11.2m. So we're talking about 118 "large" backyard pools, not olympic pools but it's still a bizarre comparison to make.

[@ambatubelo]

stop crying

[@Lighting_Desk]

Meanwhile everyone who isn't London in the UK is left to fend for themselves.

[@oetgaol]

Yeah I think looking at the Dutch for watermanagement and forward planning is a better idea.

[@michaelrabbers5960]

Will this video be the start of another Anglo-Dutch war?

[@mehere8038]

going by the comments, that would be a big yes!

[@eierkoek]

nice, i love the keep on digging poster from Colin furze in the background XD

[@hungryyoungman.]

Years back i remember there was an episode on either discovery or natgeo.

[@karman79]

The Dutch have been building barriers against flooding much before the Thames Barrier. The Delta Works in the Netherlands is more comprehensive and it started in the 60's. I'm not an expert but I don't think Thames Barrier is an absolute pioneer of such defense.

[@skapitaen29]

Just wanted to mention that the pictures of floods shown at 0:47 and 0:50 where not caused in same way as tide floods in London. The two pictures show flooding in Passau (Germany, Bavaria). The flood in Passau was caused by very strong rainfall in the surrounding area and the local rivers were not able to transport the water away fast enough. The task of the Thames Barrier is to protect London from floods caused by very high tides in which water gets pushed up the Thames from the North Sea. So the floods in London are caused differently than the ones in the pictures.

[@callum2474]

My uncle worked on this barrier as a civil engineer. Love him

[@aMiyafuji]

As was probably mentioned many times, Tom Scott made an absolutely stellar video on the Thames Barrier a couple years ago. This is a very good video to watch along side this video as it mentions mentions history and shows maps showings how much of a deal this really is. I think both videos did a good job showing off the barrier, but both together just works better.

[@VascovanZeller]

Where does the water upstream from the barrier go?

[@kylebeach2316]

Where do you think?

[@marekdg]

It accumulates Usually there is enough room for it that it won’t cause any problems. (Technically it can flood upstream if barrier is up for a long time)

[@cameronhill7769]

Towards the Cotswolds

[@NorfolkCatKickers]

So I think most of the time the water is going out to the sea. Water rains in the near regions and collects in the river and then goes past london past the barrier and then out to sea. But certain times of day when tide is high the water reverses more water actually leaves from london to the barrier than the other way on average. But with strong storms it causes more water(a spike) to enter from the sea to london than can be held safly so the barriers are errected.

[@Creadeyh]

@@NorfolkCatKickers Thanks a lot, makes sense. They could have taken a minute to explain this in the video, it's not like it's a long one already

[@RobsNeighbor]

Great video, thank you

[@drojo155]

make a video about the incredible delta structures the netherlands built!

[@BasicallyBaconSandvichIV]

Why show the delta works as inspired by this? It was put in place after the Waternoodsramp (Waterdistressdisaster) of 1953, because we could not afford another terror like that ever again. I'd wager if there was any inspiration, it was the other way around. As the Delta works are also much bigger and more sophisticated.

[@davidsheppard4607]

Wow! A positive story about the UK!

[@Tan92lfc]

I visited that part of East London

[@savagepro9060]

When the Thames River turns a . . . Tamed Revere!

[@coasterjim]

Anyone else notice the Colin Furze poster behind him?!

[@Son96601]

Hold on did they even explain what was so adaptive about it?

[@Simon-pg1bm]

London-on-Thames what a brilliant city!!

[@Sjalabais]

When comparing to 118 swimming pools, why not show 118 swimming pools?

[@donovandownes5064]

so how does it work though? Wouldn't closing the gate just make the water level higher in front of it? Are the banks of the river higher there to compensate?

[@Zusmoariku]

On that day, humanity received a wet reminder.

[@bl00dhoney]

It floods upriver a lot. up past Hampton Court

[@tpaktop2_1na]

Washington, DC will be different if the water level in the Potomac river rises 10 feet as a constant due to global warmer. Imagine the White House as a water property on the south part of the building. I guess you can't drain the swamp then. 😄

[@CrazySinger4Ever]

The UK govt has zero willingness to adapt for the future. My big concern is that by celebrating big engineering feats such as these, the UK govt is relieved from taking actual, drastic action and creating solutions that actually benefit residents, e.g. more natural water retention.

[@yurydmorales]

00:00 - 🌊 London has a history of severe flooding, with notable events including the 1928 Thames Flood and the 1953 North Sea storm. 00:21 - 🛡 The Thames Barrier, opened in 1984, has been crucial in preventing catastrophic floods in London. 00:56 - 🚧 The Thames Barrier is the first movable barrier on the River Thames, spanning 520 meters with 10 steel gates. 01:38 - 🌧 The UK's environmental agency monitors weather and tides to decide when to close the barrier, which takes about 90 minutes. 02:27 - 🚒 The Thames Barrier protects 1.42 million people and substantial residential properties, proving effective during events like Storm Xaver in 2013. 02:59 - ⏳ The barrier's frequent use can lead to faster deterioration, and climate change may affect tide predictability. 03:22 - 🌍 The Thames Estuary 2100 plan aims to upgrade flood defenses and adapt to uncertain future climate conditions, including potential new barriers. 04:07 - 🔧 The plan involves maintaining the current barrier until 2035 and considering additional measures after 2070 based on sea level rise. 04:47 - 🌐 The success of the Thames Barrier has inspired over 50 similar structures globally, showcasing the UK's adaptive approach to flood defense.

[@ChR0nos_7734]

But if shipwreck of SS Richard Montgomery explodes the gates wouldn't have enough time to close. Tidal wave would be 13 meters high and in the initial explosion column of air and debris would be 3 km high and windows would shatter in 50 km radius. SS Richard Montgomery currently has around 1560 tonnes of munitions on board. Beirut explosion "only" had cargo of 2,750 tonnes of the substance, equivalent to around 1.1 kilotons (1100 tonnes) of TNT

[@amatsolehin2526]

Watch at 1.5 speed

[@syedmustafaakber]

So the barrier is an adjustable dam?

[@KenwayJoel]

The statement "U.K's government willingness to plan for the future" really showed how little effort was put in to this video, then when they showed the Venice flood gates, which are a known, monumental failure, I lost all interest.

[@Techiejt]

good old bit of British engineering.

[@magesalmanac6424]

Embarrassingly low levels of research 😬

[@AllThingsNepal]

It would be nice if Vox started leveling up and began using script subtitles and captions to make it more accessible to a diversity of audience.

[@muhammadjawadahsan2359]

Vox can you please make a video on how Pakistan can deal with floods. We get floods almost every year mostly due to moonson rains. Yet there is no way to deal with it. Please cover this topic. Thanks!!!

[@archiebald4717]

I don't think it inspired the Dutch at all. It was the other way around.

[@jordantilford9301]

I have no idea how much 118 pools weigh- 300 tons that’s equal to 500,000 toenail clippings

[@aidan6557]

You guys have got to change your mics. I didn't come here for an asmr video and it makes every video annoying to watch

[@MandarynkiPolskie]

Didn't Tom Scott already make a video about this?

[@marekdg]

Yes he did

[@krashd]

Can only one KZbinr cover a thing?

[@VLC-Construction]

Oh no, sea level rise! Exactly the same rises across the planet, even Sydney and New York shared the rise, oh wait, what rise?

[@maherhamadouch2005]

90 minutes, absolutely not 😂 it's 9 minutes

[@krashd]

I'm fairly sure it really is 90 mins, it takes ages to raise the pontoon things in to place. They are enormous.

[@maherhamadouch2005]

@@krashd it really doesn't

[@waseembajoi1322]

Well explained

[@sm0k1nggnu_]

Still don't really know how this works. So it just stops the tide to flow back into the Thames but everything around is still unprotected? It protects London but whoever lives on the coast has no such luck?

[@krashd]

Have you seen our coast? It varies between 20ft and 300ft tall. Rivers, particularly the Thames, are the weak points in the coastline.

[@geeksdo1tbetter]

This makes me want to replay TimberBorn!

[@laurelwillow]

Same! such a good game

[@kuukeli]

interesting video

[@MrBoliao98]

So what? People with money can afford to protect their cities.

[@pizzagroom6221]

*London installs extreme weather infrustucture* English person: "Now the whole world is kinda copying what we are doing, even those tiny little towns, we're kinda innovative and so adaptive that way xoxo"

[@sharvinjangle3556]

so basically just a dam

[@ltmbookworm]

This is cool, but I can’t imagine that every country in the world can afford to protect their cities with expensive flood barrier systems

[@samehedi]

so, where does the water go? how does the barrier actually work? this videos answered none of my questions

[@sirensynapse5603]

How be it, we find no graffiti adorning said structures?

[@TJVegan.]

In the river?

[@YarPirates-vy7iv]

​@@TJVegan.Rivers only keep out those who aren't serious about it

[@EZEKIELAIA]

For now...but not forever.

[@Safaid862]

Yes but how does this work?

[@ryanteh7001]

yo londons pretty cool innit fammilam

[@Thejdreamerzful]

Shout out to Woolwich! SE London we're out here with that Thames Barrier 👀

[@pjaysabio9134]

The Philippines can't relate. smh

[@sarahscrichfield5303]

Am I the only one who've never heard of this? I'm in the US, but I would've thought I would've heard of it in some point in my 44 years

[@lukasrentz3238]

As a European who knows and has seen different Flood Protection Measures along the North Sea Coast i can say: The Thames Barrier doesn´t impress me.

[@krashd]

@@lukasrentz3238 It should, it's the 2nd largest flood barrier project after the Deltaworks in the Netherlands and the single largest flood barrier structure in the world.

[@Bos_Taurus]

What happens to the water levels upstream of the barrier?

[@Graceless26]

Does no one else think Prof Ivan Haigh sounds like Danielle Radcliffe? I thought Harry Potter was telling me about the Thames

[@mikailvito7200]

how would the Dutch would have handled this sort of stuff since they're better at this stuff than the British

[@alexbaxter3730]

It still works tho...

[@davidthewhale7556]

What does that even mean? This isn’t a fantasy world where one race is inherently better at things than others. England and the Netherlands are only a stones throw away and are very similar to each other

[@123ricardo210]

Pretty similarly, to be fair, a lot of expertise comes from the Netherlands anyway (which includes the "adaptive approach", tbh), we started the whole deltaworks thing about twenty days after the floods in 1953. In part because a lot of those plans were evolved from the planning in the thirties and especially the early forties, but couldn't be built due to reconstruction from the second world war.

[@merrymachiavelli2041]

"this sort of stuff" water management is actually a pretty complex topic, what works best in London's context might not always been be analogous to the Netherlands, and vice versa. For a start, large portions of the Netherlands are already under sea level, so a large amount of water management is maintaining reclaimed areas and partially-artificial inland seas, which isn't the same thing as protecting a single large city upstream from an estuary.

[@123ricardo210]

@@merrymachiavelli2041 honestly, London and most of the Dutch delta are so similar this is one of the few non-Dutch examples taught in NL

[@jsonlee01]

Where does all the water being blocked go? I can see this to be a big issue as more areas adopt such barriers. Sure you prevent flooding in X area but you cause flooding in y area.

[@grindupBaker]

It goes into Russian Baron homes. Yippeeeeeee! Actually for maybe 100 years there's been an idea that blocking Gibralter would lower the Mediterranean (like it once was) and recover vast land around the coasts but Mediterranean is big enough that that actually might get objections from low-lying coastal places elsewhere that steadily get the extra bit that was evaporated off the hot Mediterranean. Interesting little thing.

[@krashd]

It remains in the North Sea.

[@Sur-Ron]

In 20 years most of it will be underwater

[@xelthiavice4276]

nope

[@DrStrange177A]

Webcam interviews are becoming increasingly common at Vox. In the AI era of 2024, even individual creators are producing high-quality videos, yet it seems Vox is becoming more complacent with each passing day.

[@eleanormaddocks1834]

Now if some of the uk governments attitude towards protecting London from flooding could be directed towards the rest of the country, that would be great.

[@Nick-fm5uv]

So how does it not act like a dam and flood the city that’s behind the barrier…?

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

There's a bit of a difference in the threat posed by the worst that a week's worth of winter wet weather can add to the level of Father Thames and the collision of events such as storm surge, atmospheric pressure, Easterly windstorms and seasonal highest tides in the somewhat larger North Sea!

[@uss_04]

Literally just watched the Tom Scott video before this.

[@danielduncan6370]

Ah yes, preparing for the future. First adapted by London England 😂😂

[@dacadz]

Not the briddish exceptionalism of this video 💀

[@jenny_and_mochi]

Did it close a lot in 2012 due to the Olympics and being cautious?

[@CyclingSteve]

It was closed to calm the tide for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee River Pageant in 2012.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

​@@CyclingSteve That's presumably what they hoped would happen: a nice calm body of water in the Pool of London where the Royal Barge was moored. Alas that's not what happens. Every bob up and down and each tug on the moorings leads to a succession of echoes precisely because of the 'full bath' effect when the barrier is shut. Add that to the dreadful downpour the late Queen stood through like a trooper and it won't have been the most brilliant Diamond Jubilee celebration.

[@hongchan1202]

Try doing this in the US, they'd all laugh.

[@jjakkad]

Very Cool

[@TA-8787]

Why does this work and not the Venice thing?

[@michaelhobson1557]

9000Te of gushing water? That’s not a force. Which is a 118 large swimming pools? There are very small swimming pools

[@tedyshor]

Do you still wonder?!? With all the wars ruining the world climate 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[@sapnamourya8667]

I think Rather than creating this barrier they need to grew forest here, it easily Stops the flood and slow it