Wow...just seen this thread.
I live about 2 miles from PD and DM...
Fortunately, I am up a hill but know others whose houses are devastated. This isn't just about rivers bursting their banks. As some have correctly noted, the ground is utterly saturated and so surface water just can't get into the watercourses fast enough.
Some of these houses have been there for hundreds of years and, although on a flood plain, had been built sensibly with elevated ground floors. Unfortunately, changes in the surrounding areas have had a knock on effect, either through flood management systems that rob Peter to pay Paul (water has to go somewhere) or too much water being sent into the sewers.
I'm also a civil engineer. All new developments now are unlikely to get planning without ensuring their surface water goes into sustainable systems such as in ground takeaways or reed beds, designed to slowly release the water back into the ground below. However, this is reasonably new and for decades we've kept paving over green space and dumping al the water into sewers expecting it to disappear. It's shocking that people can still pave over their gardens without any sort of approval in a lot of areas.
The area may have flooded before but in a different way.
OPs attitude stinks like the raw sewage bubbling up.through the drains. (for the record, we've not had any coordinated assistance).
Cactus poo very much appropriate...