Guarding a scepter´d isle

Rising water levels are one of the most potent threast posed by global warming. In response Britain has doubled its speading on flood prevention. The most visible evidence of the danger is the Thames Barrier, a set of hulking yet beautiful floodgates that bisect the waterway II miles dowriver from central London. When the Barrier became operational in I983 30 years after the massive flood taht spurred its construction, planners expected that it might have a close once or twice a year to keep ocean storm surges from inundating the capital, In the past decade, however extreme weather has caused the barrier to be closed the barrier to be closed an average of I0 times each year.