The Year Britain Flooded - TV review

Schools flooded, houses collapsed and roads became rivers.

And, while some could make light of the situation – even jet skiing in their streets – Channel 4's documentary The Year Britain Flooded gave a candid insight into the true cost of flooding and the heartache it can cause.

How different the start of 2012 had been, coming on the back of a two-year dry spell and with a hosepipe ban in place.

But before long Great Britain found itself in the eye of a perfect storm that led to the most widespread and longest lasting floods in living memory.

The water started falling in April. But these were no normal April showers, and what would follow over the coming months would turn hundreds of people's lives upside down.

Warm subtropic air saturated with water collided with cold air from the Atlantic, causing weather conditions not seen in the UK since records had begun.

That's the science bit.

But while the documentary showed the distress and devastation extreme weather can bring, it also highlighted that while the country is being batted by Mother Nature, human nature is often at its best.

Tales of tragedy and residents left devastated after losing their homes were intertwined with heartwarming stories of samaritan behaviour, of people coming to the aid of others at their time of need.

It was back in June that Newcastle was to be the victim of a deluge that stopped trains, ripped cars from the roads and flooded schools.

Rescuers told the documentary how they feared Armageddon, with tens of thousands of people ringing emergency service phone lines with calls of desperation.

And it was a tale that was to be repeated time and time again up and down the country.

Pauline, of Newburn, recalled the horror of seeing the ground underneath her entire new housing estate collapse, while Sam and Dawn, of Gloucester, told of being forced to completely rebuild their house on stilts to protect it from the elements.

In Whitby, residents told of seeing skeletons buried in a nearby graveyard rise to the surface when the rainfall caused a landslide while another, June Knight, had to face up to the devastation of seeing her home of 28 years demolished because the cascading water had left it unsafe.

But through her tears, she also recalled the kindness of those in the community who had rallied round to help her, donating furniture and possessions to help lessen the pain.

Homemade footage of students sliding down rivers of rainwater on dinghys was shown alongside the jet ski champion who admitted being one of the few who had applauded the arrival of the deluge.

Those pieces of footage were brief let-ups in an otherwise shocking documentary that showed that extreme weather can bring with it extreme horror – with a warning that, as things get wetter in future, we will be facing up to a battle with the elements that we will struggle to win.

And, after having their hearts broken at the hands of Mother Nature once already, that is a warning that Pauline, June, Sam and Dawn will not take lightly.

Vicky Nash