As England's most extensive river flooding for 60 years begins to ebb, there are many lessons to learn about how to cope better with intense rainfall. We need to learn fast because it is now scientifically incontrovertible that global warming is making heavy rain fall more frequently across the world's temperate latitudes.

Indeed the whole climate is changing in a way that accentuates the extremes. In contrast to wet north-west Europe, the south-east of the continent is suffering extreme heat. In the US, the worst floods in Texas for 50 years are balanced by Californian drought. So governments everywhere need to realise that flood defences designed in the last century to withstand a once-a-century onslaught must be strengthened if they are not to be overwhelmed once a decade.