The devastating floods that hit North Yorkshire six months ago were an Act of God: a natural disaster for which nobody was to blame.

About 200 properties around Norton, Malton, Old Malton and Stamford Bridge were damaged and many families suddenly found themselves without a home in what are acknowledged to be the worst floods in the county this century.

But while we may not be able to prevent such disasters happening again, we should at least be able to minimise their effect - and to have early warning that they are about to strike.

To simply wake up to find the flood waters lapping through your kitchen door, as happened with some families, is not good enough.

The Environment Agency says it has already learned some lessons from the disaster about the need for better early warning systems.

But flood victims in Norton who will be meeting tomorrow night clearly feel there is much still to be done. There is a real and understandable fear that the same thing could happen again. They want reassurance - not only about the need for early warnings, but also that something is being done to try, at least, to ensure that there is some kind of defence against the floods.

The other lesson to be learned from the floods is the need to give all possible support to the victims once disaster has struck.

That means not only rallying around to give the victims food and shelter in the immediate aftermath - there was a wonderful community spirit that took over following the floods - but also ensuring that the victims' homes can be restored and made fit to live in as soon as possible.

It is wholly unacceptable that, six months to the week after the floods struck and with the first threat of winter already in the air, some people are still not able to go home.

Flood victims are now talking about employing a solicitor for advice to help deal with the builders, insurance companies and others they believe have been slow in responding to their needs.

They should not have to take such action.

The priority now must be to ensure that in the next few weeks everything possible is done to enable these people to return to their homes.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.