flood

No, not the classic They Might Be Giants album.

It appears to be a bit wet out there, though I think The Evening Standard is being more alarmist than usual.

Right now many people are working around the clock to try and avoid losing a major national grid switching station to the waters and plunging several hundred thousands into darkness. Unfortunately it would appear that those who were involved in refurbishing it only last year were only too aware that it was built on a flood plain.

‘We will have eight out of 16 circuits transferred by October this year, which puts us bang on target to have the new switching station fully commissioned for the end of 2006. Transferring circuits calls for planned outages. This is timed to ensure that there is no supply disruption to Central Networks customers during the peak winter period. Also the position of the site on the river flood plain presents some challenges for working during winter. The switching station is on raised ground, and the building itself is on stilts, and in one period of heavy rain it became an island surrounded by flood water.’

Perhaps they’ll be raising those stilts before the winter.