Our pictures of last year's floods are a graphic reminder of the scale of the calamity. Contemporary photographs show the affected areas are now all but back to normal. But for those who were hardest hit, that is not the end of the story.
They are still fearful of a repeat of the disaster. With a changing climate, there is no guarantee that the terrible conditions responsible for last year's floods will not reoccur in our lifetime.
The Environment Agency has improved its early warning system and is now canvassing opinion on improved flood defences. Only when they are in place will victims of the 1999 disaster sleep easy once more.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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