Living inland and 560 feet above sea level, we have far fewer problems than the inhabitants of places like Dawlish or the Somerset Levels. It's cold and miserable up here, but the only real inconvenience, apart from having to weaer multiple waterproofs and waterproof trousers, was a brief power cut yesterday morning. These annoyances pale into insignificance compared with being forced to evacuate your home.
Of course, the climate change brigade is having a field day in all this (well, I'm glad someone is!) This rotten weather proves that global warming is happening, so we are infomed.
Well, hang on a minute. Not all of us have that short memories. Only eight years ago when Hurricane Katrina caused devastation to New Orleans, the same doomsayers were warning that increasingly violent hurricanes were going to be the norm due to global warming. OK, where was the devastation last year? In actual fact, it was an unusually quiet hurricane season in the Caribbean. Given that the Met Office's own data have actually shown that there has been no statistically significant increase in the world’s temperature since 1997, this is no surprise.
What is interesting is that sunspot activity, which is known to affect our weather, is at its lowest in at least 100 years, possibly longer. Some experts are comparing solar inactivity to levels last seen in the 17th Century, which saw some very severe winters and also lots of rain. Read Antonia Fraser's superb biography of Oliver Cromwell. No wonder the great man died in his late 50s - his military campaigns seem to have been largely directed from damp, soggy tents and fought on battlefields knee-deep in mud.
Sunspot activity was high in the mid-20th century, but lower on average in the early part of the century. No surprise to read in the fascinating Sussex Weather Book, by Bob Ogley, Ian Currie and Mark Davidson, that there were som pretty wet winters in this period too. In that relatively dry county which was my home for over 30 years, severe flooding occurred in 1910 and 1911, a violent storm destroyer Worthing Pier in 1913, and 13 inches of rain fell in the winter of 1925. Of course, in those days, reporting in the media was much more restrained, with none of the sensationalism of today, and communities were far closer. Far fewer people would look to the government, let alone a Quango, to deal with their problems. It was tough for affected people, but they coped.
There is no doubt that the current situation is exceptional, but has been exacerbated by the destruction of trees which absorb water, by the lack of dredging in some rivers, and by the foolishness of building on flood plains> this therefore means that we should give a wide berth to global warming panic merchants and make sure we don't allow the government to assume more power over us than they already have in the ame of saving the planet. In reality, there is nothing new under the sun, even a sun with minimal sunspot activity.