A4 in London experiences flooding after downpour
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Scientists predict London will face more extreme weather and flooding in the future unless global warming can be stopped. According to Sir David King, chair of the Climate Advisory Group, London, Hull and Bristol are all at risk from rising sea levels. The warning comes amid torrential downpours overnight are causing chaos in the capital.
Although estimates vary, global sea levels could rise by up to 230ft (70m) if all of the planet’s glaciers and polar ice caps melt.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), this worst-case scenario would flood “every coastal city on the planet”.
Maps published earlier this summer reveal what the inundated capital could look like as early as 2030.
Sir David has now suggested moving the capital away from London to avoid the climate chaos.
Speaking to the Mirror, he said: “We are an island nation which means the biggest challenge we face from climate change is rising sea levels and storms at sea.
“And storms at sea when you are an island nation also mean storms inland so the net result is our coastal areas are under attack at the same time as our rivers are flooding.”
London is in a precarious position, he added, because of the Thames and the Thames estuary “attacking” the capital “from both sides”.
The capital received a taste of what life under extreme climate change might be last night.
Strong winds and torrential downpours moved across parts of the country, flooding streets across central London.
Reports from the Met Office reveal more than an inch of rain was dumped in an hour over St James’s Park in Westminster.
And a video posted to Twitter by Greg McKenzie shows cars ploughing flooded streets in Knightsbridge at 5am on Tuesday.
Although the rain has stopped over the capital, the Met Office has issued a rain warning for the north of England.
The yellow warning covers Hull and Newcastle upon Tyne.
Weather forecasters expect “a few homes and businesses flooded” as well as bus and train services to be affected.
According to Sir David, parts of the world are already experiencing the sort of chaos he predicts London could face.
He said: “If we run forward in time and we continue emitting greenhouse gases at the current level we can no longer defend our valuable assets and we would have to start moving to higher land.
“What am I talking about? I am talking for example about the capital.
“This is already happening in Indonesia, the Government is moving the capital from higher land because Jakarta is being so seriously flooded already.
“They have rising sea levels, Jakarta is sitting very close to sea level and it’s a place with a river estuary so the estuaries are flooding at the same time as the storms are flooding from the ocean so Jakarta is no longer viable for the next 20 to 30 years.”
Sir David formerly served as the Government’s chief scientific advisor.
He fears the threat of climate change will also disrupt food chains, supplies and spark a wave of mass migration.
The impacts, he argued, are going to be felt all across the globe.
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