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Flood & Strom Warning : UK Never learned from New Orleans
27/Aug/2006: Parts of east London and the Thames estuary may be at risk of a major flood because the U.K. government has not learned from last year's disaster in New Orleans, a risk expert warned on Friday.
Flood defenses along parts of the Thames and creeks and small rivers running off it are built in a similar way to those that collapsed in New Orleans, but the U.K.'s Environment Agency has not considered the possibility that these could be breached in the event of a serious flood.
Scientists and insurers also have criticized the U.K. government's decision to cut £15 million ($28.4 million) from the flood defense budget this year, saying the government should not be skimping as sea levels rise and the threat of flooding grows.
United Kingdom had not considered the implications of a major flood as part of a wider natural disaster. Operation Triton, held two years ago involving the emergency services and government authorities, simulated a major east coast storm and included the assumption that power and communications systems could be hampered.
Major flooding in Carlisle, north eastern England, in January 2005 also prompted moves to protect mobile phone and electricity substations from the effects of flood.
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