Quite. Mrs Archi is a Somerset girl and made this very point about the (mis)management of the Levels which saw centuries of experience thrown out in a 'we've got qualifications, how could we not know more?' fashion...
Hope that your need for sandbags declines swiftly, Engines (although from here in Oxon, we're told that plywood boards with a silicon based impregnating material are a better option...)