by Philip Eden

As if the gods were targeting those areas worst hit by the autumn and early winter floods, the heaviest rain during the last week homed in on Sussex and Kent leading to renewed flood warnings. Some 50mm rain fell across these counties in seven days � the equivalent of one month's normal rainfall.

This has added to the unprecedented quantities of water which have fallen here since April last year. In fact, at Herstmonceux, East Sussex, the total rainfall for the last 12 months has been 1496mm (58.9 inches) compared with the long-term average of 726mm (28.6 inches) � more than twice the normal amount. Astonishingly, it is more than the last year's total rainfall in Fort William, the UK's wettest town. And lest any hardy highlander deride soft southerners for not being able to cope with such piffling amounts of water, remember that highland rivers are designed to cope with such large quantities of rain, the much gentler contours and sluggish streams of southeast England are not.

The landscape of the Home Counties, particularly the chalk hills such as the Downs and Chilterns, has changed too. Much low-lying land have been partially flooded since October, and even the boulder clay of the high Chilterns has been thoroughly waterlogged. Countless chalk springs, dry since time immemorial, have sprung into life, feeding new streams in valley bottoms which have been dry for many decades. One such crosses a main road in Surrey, another runs through a public park in Sussex. The rebirth of these springs is not entirely due to the recent rains: the water-table in the chalk has been rising in recent decades thanks to reduced abstraction for domestic and industrial consumption.