What would have happened if Storm Desmond had chosen East Devon for its landing, with all its rivers and estuaries?

What the Environment Agency DOESN’T tell you is that the phrase ” one in a hundred or two hundred year event” does NOT mean such floods will ONLY happen once in a hundred or two hundred years: they mean 5 or 10 times in a thousand years – which could be five or ten years in a row! However, if we do get 10 years in a row and we query them when it happens in year 11 – they will tell us it is an acceptable statistical variation, etc. etc.

Plus the EA uses PAST events to work out what to do where the past is no guide whatsoever to the future.

In any case, with climate changes going haywire and El Nino playing up more than usual, it is all pretty meaningless.

What CAN you do? DON’T BUILD ON FLOOD PLAINS – the clue is in the name! And perhaps even extend the said floodplains!