Thames Water has announced a multi-million pound upgrade of a London pumping station to help protect residents from flooding during extreme weather.

The work at Folkestone Road pumping station in East Ham will see transformers, generators and storm pumps replaced to allow it to cope with the levels of wastewater flowing in to the site during heavy rainfall.

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Folkestone Road is one of four pumping stations along the Northern Outfall Sewer and feeds in to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works, the largest sewage works in Europe.

It currently deals with around 4,600 litres of wastewater per second, enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool in less than 10 minutes, and the works will ensure it can cope with these volumes by allowing the storm tanks to hold maximum capacity.

The £10 million scheme began earlier this month, with contractor Barhale carrying out initial investigations and ground surveys. The main project will start early next year and is due to be completed in October 2023.