London could have become an underwater city if the Thames Barrier had never been built

It may look like an aerial shot from a post-apocalyptic film, but this new map shows how London could look if sea levels continue to rise and the Thames Barrier wasn’t there to protect it.

Released by the Environment Agency, the map highlights what would happen if the capital was hit by 'severe' tidal surges.

Parts of Beckton, West Ham, Whitechapel and Southwark are all shown completely submerged with only a handful of spots across the floodplain escaping the flooding.

Melting ice from the poles could make sea levels rise by up to three feet by the end of the century, according to academics from the European Ice2sea programme, the British Antarctic Survey and Bristol University.

They claim there is a one in 20 chance that ocean levels around the British coast could be around a metre higher by 2100 as a result of climate change.

If such rises were to take place, London’s current sea defences would struggle to cope, with the capital at risk of flooding once a decade.

Last week storms hit parts of the UK causing the largest tidal surges in 60 years.

Around 1,400 homes were said to have been flooded, including 300 in worst-affected Lincolnshire.

However, many properties in London were protected due to the Thames Barrier - a 520m-long flood defence system near Woolwich in east London.

The movable barrier is made up of 10 gates attached to 39-metre tall cofferdam piles, which are buried 24 metres into the river bed.

Individual gates can be closed in ten minutes but the whole barrier takes an hour and half to close completely.

In anticipation of last week’s storms, the Thames Barrier was closed on Thursday and Friday to prevent surges flooding the capital.

When fully raised, the barrier creates a solid steel wall preventing water flowing upstream towards the capital.

The four main gates span 61 metres and weigh over 3,300 tonnes each. Each gate is 20 metres high and can hold back loads of up to 9,000 tonnes.