ABSTRACT
Any investigation into an excess of water in urban areas first needs to acknowledge that there have always been floods, and writings concerning such events go back thousands of years, from the Noachian events described in the Bible to the great deluge experienced by Deucalion in Greek mythology. Although dramatic flood legends have permeated into a diverse array of cultures worldwide, a more conventional and sober description of events stems from the rise of writings by monastic historians and other diarists who give a surprisingly rich and lucid account. For example, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle (Britannia 2007), which provides an important account of British history from the Middle Ages up to 1154, records one of the notable events of 1014 as:
This year, on the eve of St Michael’s day, came the great sea-flood, which spread wide over this land, and ran so far up as it never did before, overwhelming many towns, and an innumerable multitude of people.
