I see in the news that the village of Fishlake, which copped a bad un and was featured earlier this week, was built on a flood plain. Not only that, but recorded knowledge of the flood plan goes back as far as the Vikings. The few houses and the pub built on it in victorian times were deliberstely situated on local high spots, and all survived unscathed. The relatively modern village wasn't, and copped the lot. I mean, who builds on flood plains, and who then buys a house on one?
In nearby Northampton a huge housing development was built on the flood plain that flooded badly during the floods of Easter 98. Now the Nene is up, the flood warnings are out, and everyone is flapping like John Inman in a semaphore class. I know someone who bought a large house on that development and I warned him at the time that had his house been there in 98 it would have been underwater halfway up the ground floor, but that cut no ice at the time. I wonder what he's thinking now?