Flood hits London!

Mission Impossible

Mission Impossible is a story which involves various US government agencies solving seemingly impossible problems.

Dealing with disasters and rapid changes is like attempting an impossible mission. There is so much to do, and so little time...

Play the theme music...

Mission Impossible

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is, together with your class, to make difficult decisions to protect London from flooding, in a tight time situation.

Will you work well with others?

Will you be able to provide information?

Do you cope well under pressure?

Find out! But first preparations and a briefing...

We’re about to start our exercise...

Start a stopwatch and turn the page when indicated in the top

right of each slide.

1Background Briefing4am Tuesday 15 August 2010

1.London is prone to flooding because it is a city on a river. London has many flood defenses including walls along its river banks, the Thames Barrier and other barrier walls.

2.However, many experts think that London is not well prepared for floods. Read this article to find out why.

3.Find out if the Thames Barrier is likely to protect London in the future from floods by watching this BBC video.

Are you ready?

10 minutes allocated.Proceed at 6’00”

2Action Meetings5.00am Tuesday 15 August 2010

Heavy rains falling throughout the UK. A storm surge in the North Sea could mean flooding for London. There is the possibility that the Thames Barrier may not hold. This could mean millions of people in London may be at risk.

Which areas of London are likely to be most at risk from flooding? Click here to find out.

Even the Houses of Parliament could flood. The Met Office suggests that the flood could reach London by 2pm. There have not been any particular preparations.

3Decision making6am Tuesday 15 August 2010

In groups, write three recommendations onto large paper, to advise the Prime Minister how to prepare London for flooding. Here are some topics you might like to consider:

Flood defences?Buildings?Evacuation/ warn people?Which areas of London do you focus on?What personnel will you involve?

Watch out! You only have 5 minutes to write them down!!

Share your ideas with the other teams.

Agents advise P.M within 5 minutes; change slide at

19’00”

4Worsening Situation – Action plan7.00am Tuesday 15 August 2010

The storm has not stopped. The Thames Barrier is at risk of being flooded over.(The Thames Barrier is a large openable gate that protects the mouth of the River Thames from incoming storm surges).

You need to come up with an action plan for the Prime Minister. In your groups, write a paragraph explaining what the P.M should do to protect Londoners. Be quick! You only have 10 minutes Here are some questions to think about:Which areas are priority/likely to be worst hit? Where do most people live?What about schools and hospitals?How would you send messages to people?What messages would you send to people?Who needs to be alerted?What about transport in London?How will you move so many people?

Each group needs to make their plans to give to the P.M, before the deadline.

Decisions made by PM within 10 minutes

5Storm Abatement10.00am Tuesday 15 August 2010

Miraculously the storm is in decline and there appears to be no ongoing danger. The city was lucky this time.

How well did you work together as a team?

Were the ideas your team developed workable?

Would some of your ideas have lead to a greater catastrophe?

How could you have done better?

Decisions made by PM within 5 minutes; change slide at

24’00”

The Movie

A movie called Flood was released in 2007 which showed a catastrophe with flooding in London. Sadly, the storm did not abate. Although scientists believe that a storm affecting London as shown in the film is not possible, it is a good way to consider how one would react in unexpected situations.

Images by Flickr users Ronaldo Lima Jr, truthinreligion, and sparkovonovinski respectively and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons License.