Blue whale-sized screws installed for Hull flood defences

Six giant pumps the length of a blue whale are being installed in Hull as part of a £16m flood prevention scheme.

The Archimedes screw pumps are each 28 metres in length, four metres in diameter and weigh about 45 tonnes.

They are being fitted at Bransholme pumping station, which failed during major flooding in 2007.

Yorkshire Water said it would help to protect about 15,000 properties there and also in nearby Kingswood.

Almost 10,000 properties were flooded in Hull and the surrounding area after heavy rainfall in June 2007.

The water company said the new screws, which were transported from Holland, would provide "four times more pumping capacity than currently available and will afford the maximum amount of protection" against any potential future flash floods.

Richard Sears, from the company, said: "These six Archimedes screws can shift the equivalent of an Olympic-sized swimming pool in a matter of seconds.

"It will lift water out of the surface water drains into a huge lagoon, where it will be held for storage until such time as the River Hull drops and then we will simply release it gently back into the river."

Work to upgrade the Bransholme pumping station, which has been in place since 1969, is expected to be completed by spring next year.