Having visited Glastonbury over the past few days Londonist already has a pretty good idea of what floods of biblical proportions look like.
But anyone who gloated at the mud-splattered revellers over the weekend might soon be eating their words as, according to a new report (registration required), "the flash floods and sweltering heat that have swept across Britain during the past few weeks could be a harbinger of major problems in the future."
Ok, so when they say "the future" they're not talking about the next fortnight or anything; we're actually looking at the next couple of centuries here, but it's still bad news.
Apparently, there is "at least a one-in-20 chance that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will melt in just 200 years," meaning that central London will "drown".
To be more precise: "it would mean a massive relocation project, with much of the boroughs of Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Bexley and Barking under water, along with large areas of south Essex and north Kent."
There is some good news however: one scientist has said that the numbers "don't seem quite right" to him and that the experts "must have double-counted somewhere" (nice to know our chances of being swept away are being calculated so carefully isn't it?).
And anyway, we have the Thames Barrier so nothing could possibly go wrong...could it?
