 In the early 1980s a pioneering flood control device, the Thames Barrier, was opened.It is closed to tides several times a year to prevent water damage to London's low-lying areas upstream (the 1928 Thames flood demonstrated the severity of this type of event).In the late 1990s, the long Jubilee River was built as a wide "naturalistic" flood relief channel from Taplow to Eton to help reduce the flood risk in Maidenhead Windsor and Eton.