While the innovative design has succeeded in holding back up to two foot of water in the most vulnerable spot, the water is spurting up through sewage and drain access points. Today just before midday the road was officially closed.

Desperate efforts to pump water off and from beneath the road have been going on all morning, with six pumps now in operation. The council will no doubt be criticised for failing to deploy the flood defences too late yesterday (against the environment agencies recommendation), and for failing to get enough pumps onsite quick enough.

With surrounding towns also under flood water, this is no doubt something we'll all have to get a lot more used to with the kind of climate changes we are experiencing, and which are predicted to continue over the coming decades. More action is needed to curb the causes of climate change, but the real issue now, is the stragegies we need, globally and nationally, to deal with the potentialy catastrophic effects.