We had another one in 1999 and one again this year, the same time as you had one in England. We have to accept this is now normal. The water board has earmarked large areas of low lying land to be deliberately flooded during heavy rains to buy time for the pumps to drain the water from the dykes. One of Mr Dounes's problems is the 3,000 greenhouses in the area, each a hectare in size, which cause flash floods because the water drains straight into the dykes and is not absorbed in the fields. The water board has the power to ban building on flood plains, and in some places is only allowing new houses to be built on stilts.
Some homeowners keep boats to escape if the water level gets too high.
Mr Prescott, who has post poned new planning guidance on flood plains until after Christmas when the recent floods have been evaluated, said similar powers were being considered. In Holland it is a feature of a working water management system. This is the best place in the world to come because they have a complete flood plain management system. We have to learn because flooding is going to be a regular feature of the weather in Britain. We will have no alternative.