Much to the amazement and disbelief of locals, an architect acquired land immediately adjacent to the river on a known area of flooding.
He built a large bungalow, which duly flooded to a depth of one metre.
Undeterred he then built a second storey, but once again the lower floor flooded.
He sold the property, and for a while there was respite from flooding, however, the inevitable happened, so the new owners 'tanked' the outer walls with bitumen and built a secondary stone wall up to the level of the windowcills (two metres), however the flood that had caused their most recent flooding had overtopped and destroyed the flood defence embankment on the opposite bank of the river (flooding 40 properties).
The Environment Agency rebuilt the embankment 18 inches higher (and wider) thus 'futureproofing' the 40 properties, however, the recent flood (5th and 6th December) reached to the top of the increased-height embankment rather than flowing over (at the previous height).
Had the embankment been rebuilt to the previous height, my neighbour's tanked outer wall would have protected his property this time, however it reached the windows and penetrated within the building.
The problem now is that the outer wall will have to be demolished to allow the trapped floodwater to be dried out, and, of course, raising it a further eighteen inches would obscure the downstairs windows.
And finally, downstream of the bridge there is a concrete wall that was not increased in height, so the river flowed over and flooded the 40 houses on that side of the river, however, the Environment Agency are claiming a success in that it allowed extra time for the residents to move possessions upstairs (though their ground floor was flooded to a depth of four feet and the duration of the recent flood remained at its peak for three hours so they face many months out of their properties (once again) whilst the plaster is removed and renewed after drying out the brickwork).
Quite a success!
Having said that, things are worse - much worse - elsewhere in the country - although flooding of your property is flooding, whether it be four feet or six feet, you still need to move out whilst the walls are dried out and the floorboards renewed.
PS:- we had another flood on Boxing Day this time a modest 14 feet rather than the 5th/6th December 19 feet. No dwellings were flooded this time, but the streets and roads were closed due to the water levels preventing traffic.
Several 'white goods' put out for collection are now further downstream . . .