Steve wrote:
On 9 Nov 2006 11:04:38 -0800, wrote:
but in between I
suppose it must be due to higher flows down the Thames.
Steve, for some reason I'm told that your post requires me to install the
Chinese Traditional language pack to display it correctly. Something odd
about the encoding you've used?
The differance between summer and winter is quite significant, but
the quote was "now bursts its banks almost daily between March and
September" eg not in winter, maybe the quote just has the period the
wrong way round.
I think the quote is just wrong. The road is particularly low at this point
as there is a draw dock there (a slope down to the river to enable boats to
be launched), but I doubt very much if it's flooded often in the week or so
centred on the neap tides (roughly at the quarter phases of the Moon).
Checking the tide tables for london bridge shows no real difference
between the months, excluding the equinox periods. Having a better
search found this[1]
"The closure of the Thames Barrier can be a response not only to tidal
surges but also to heavy rainfall. In the unusual winter of 2000/01
there were, as was stated above, 24 Barrier closures, as opposed to
the usual three or so, largely in response to the extremely heavy
rainfall on the Thames and its tributaries.
The PDF version of that report[2] has a photo on the cover of flooding in
Chiswick Mall. The Environment Agency's comment is worth repeating he
"Flooding is a relatively common occurrence at this location on high spring
tides as the flood defences here are set behind the road, which local
residents will be aware of. Essentially this is tidal inundation within the
flood defences. It is a good example of how people need to live with the
natural tides and be aware of where the flood defence line is." The
Wikipedia author perhaps didn't have that understanding.
[1]From
http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/re...t/flooding.rtf
[2] PDF version at
http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/re...t/flooding.pdf
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)