Parliament, Tate Gallery and the Tower flooded ...

... back in January 1928.

A revealing story of a bygone era went it wasn't entirely unusual for central London to be flooded. For 1928 it was a Thames tidal surge that caught London unawares. It took at least two more major floods in the region before politicians stopped bickering and came up with a plan ... build something.

Decided some time after the 1953 floods but not opened until 1984 The Thames Flood Barrier has protected central London ever since. Shockingly the Barrier's defences have had to be deployed as many times in the last 10 weeks as in all of the 1990s.

Pavement damage after flood, Westminster