The June 25th 2007 floods in these YouTube videos are the kind of floods that would be unusual in Mediterranean cities like Alicante which have flash flood relief systems in place.

When I visit friends in Alicante and go shopping, they always say if it rains very hard, don’t go to the harbour because that’s where all the water heads in a gigantic flood relief sewer. The risk is you’d get swept out to sea with all the water. The thing is, in Alicante, this hasn’t happened for years. In these videos, Sheffield people are referring to it getting bad last week as well as yesterday.

In the UK, we’ve had two 150 year rain storms in two weeks. The statistics are being revised. The averages will change, and weather forecasters will be able to say this is average. Britain’s cities are not designed for a month’s rain in one day, twice a week. The Great Sheffield Flood of 1864 was caused by a defective dam, so it’s fair to say these floods of the past few weeks are without precedent. Imagine if these floods happened in London. Why didn’t the PM declare a state of emergency last night and bring the troops into Sheffield to help? While all this was going on, Tim Henman was in a five set match at Wimbledon. Surely Tony wasn’t engrossed in that and neglecting his duties.