Since the Somerset Levels are a flood plain, nature will flood it. Romans had no problems with that.
Much of Rome was low-lying and pretty marshy. The main drain — the cloaca maxima, only incidentally a sewer as well — was constructed early in Rome’s history to make the forum inhabitable. The 250-mile-long Tiber flooded every four or five years, with a big one every 25 years or so, not helped if water backed up from the sea.
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On 6 March in Middle Temple Hall, Ralph Kirshbaum will play a charity concert in memory of Erich Segal to raise funds for Classics for All. Details at www.classicsforall.org.uk
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