What happens to the water when the Thames barrier is closed?

The barrier prevents this from happening. The gates are left shut and the river water is held until the tide turns. Staff wait for the water on both sides to equalise - reach the same level - and then the gate is opened and the river water can rush out into the estuary.



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Without the barrier the Houses of Parliament, the O2 arena, Tower Bridge and areas of Southwark, Beckton, West Ham, Whitechapel would all be submerged in flood water. It took eight years to build the structure, costing £535m (£1.6 billion in todays money) and became fully operational in 1982.

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The River Thames, known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At 215 miles, it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the River Severn.



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The Congo is the deepest river in the world. Its headwaters are in the north-east of Zambia, between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa (Malawi), 1760 metres above sea level; it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

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According to Ian Tokelove of the London Wildlife Trust, there are 125 types of fish in the Tidal Thames (from the estuary mouth to Teddington Lock). Ed Randall of the Thames Angler's Conservancy names bream, perch, pike, roach, rudd, dace, ruffe, barbel, native and non-native carp, chub and gudgeon among them.

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The solution was to build embankments and higher river walls, but floods in 1928 and 1953 led to the development of proposals to raise the height of bank levels and install a barrier with movable gates. The 1972 Thames Barrier Act and Flood Protection Act followed and the GLC set to work.

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East Londoners have to commute longer compared to West Londoners just to get above the bridge. However, East London has always been more sparsely populated compared to West London. Therefore, it has never been necessary or a top priority to construct another bridge in the east.

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