Slight OT but from the Croydon Advertiser today:
A BOURNE expert has said the water levels are currently the highest ever recorded.
John O'Brien lives in Woldingham where the Bourne begins before it runs down to Kenley and Purley.
"It will always flood in Kenley and Purley when the river rises above surface level in Woldingham," he said. "Once that happens, Kenley and Purley have 14 days before they flood. It is the highest ever at the moment and it is only going one way – to Purley."
Mr O'Brien added: "I get sent pictures of where the council have made new flood ponds and I think 'don't these idiots know where the river starts?'
"But now there is nothing they can do, it would be like putting sandbags by the River Thames when it had already burst its banks."
He also said the drainage system at the start of the Bourne was already four feet deep at the end of January. Now it is 12 feet deep.
Mr O'Brien said the flooding of the Bourne often foretells a national disaster. According to him, the river flooded in 1938, just before a country-wide typhoid outbreak. Then in 2001 there was the foot-and-mouth crisis.
"I can't help wondering what it will mean for 2014," he said. "I have a feeling Ukip will win a lot of seats in the European elections."
"We have some alternative facts for you"
Kelly-Ann Conway - special adviser to the President