What London Would Look Like If the Thames Barrier Failed

The Thames Barrier might be out of mind to many Londoners, but that doesn't mean it's not actively preventing a catastrophe. The important work of the mammoth, yellow-armed river giant is evident in the chilling image above, showing the vast regions of the city that would've gone underwater today had the barrier suddenly failed.

Of course, it's just a simulation; the barrier closed Thursday right in time for a monster tempest that forecasters said could deliver the U.K.'s biggest storm surge in 60 years. The dire prediction that this gusty weather-socking could be as bad as the dread North Sea Flood, a killer of roughly 2,500 people in 1953, did not come true, although there is a report that sea levels were higher this time around. Right now, the country is painted with flood warnings, and thousands of people are presumably miserable after the government evacuated them so they wouldn't be "swept into the sea."