Science: London Fights Off Disaster

A giant bulwark rises in the Thames as a flood barrier

Driven by high winds and tides, the great surge of water spills over the embankments of the Thames River and sweeps across dozens of square miles of London, endangering countless thousands of people. More than a quarter of a million homes, offices and factories in such low-lying areas as Westminster, Hammersmith, Lambeth and Southwark are inundated. In the streets, thousands of cars are left stranded. In central London, the underground is paralyzed, bridges and tunnels are closed. Hospitals struggle valiantly to maintain services, their task made all the more difficult by...

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