I do agree that a lot of new estates have been built on suite that were a potential risk. sure and many people have paid the price for that poor planning.
but...
I remember the week that it flooded (think it was 25th june) although i put july in prev post. Anyhow back to my point. I remember it raining for at least a week with very few hours in that week were it was not raining, then not a single break of rain for 24 hours. we are talking medium to heavy rain here, then came the down pour, i was walking through town to catch the tram home, when it got very very heavy, so i stopped in a door way.
There was a woman next to me and she invited my in for some "market reasearch" now i know this is starting to sound like a soft core porno, but to my shock she did not ask me to strip off my sodden clothes but to test Gravy, and yorkshire puds. So im on my third gravy sample when the phone rings and its someone from head office explaining that all trams and most buses are canceled. we put on the radio to find out that meadowhall is underwater, as is parts of attercliffe, brightside, hillsborough, shalesmore, millhouses, the tram lines, the railway lines i could go on...and bore you with what i witnessed on my long walk home. but ill just say this it was very wet.
but my point is this, it was like a mini monsoon, and it stopped very suddenly that evening. i also went for a walk that night in the city and it was very strange, it was a complete ghost town, no pubs / restaurants open. no cars, buses, trams. and the streets were littered with 1000s of broken unbrellas. the funny thing was it was bone dry everywhere, with just a few puddles here and there.