Sir, Summer floods are nothing new. The inundation of June 16, 1903, (Weather Eye, July 7) was followed, in June 1917, by 8.75 inches of rain, recorded at Sexey’s School, Bruton, Somerset. In Wiltshire, the dam burst at New Lake, Gasper, and the resultant torrent washed through the munitions works at Bourton Foundry, Dorset.
Farther down the Stour catchment, the Red Cross Hospital at Plank House, Gillingham, was overwhelmed and had to be evacuated by the Army. Those events were recalled for us, at one remove, by now elderly sons and daughters, in a living history exhibition for the 90th anniversary by Edward Hoare, in Stourton village hall.
RODNEY LEGG, Wincanton, Somerset
Sir, Bishop Dow’s attempt to blame the recent floods on divine punishment (times2, July 3) poses the question why Sheffield and Hull? Are they more sinful than, say, London or Milton Keynes?
Back in the 18th century Voltaire savaged the attempt of the Roman Catholic Church to blame the Lisbon earthquake on sin. Why, he asked, had Paris been spared?
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JOHN BROWN, Peterborough