The chairman of the Environment Agency has said he wished he had returned earlier from a Christmas holiday in Barbados to help deal with flooding in northern England.
Sir Philip Dilley has faced criticism for holidaying in the Caribbean over Christmas while more flooding hit parts of England, and for a statement put out by the Environment Agency suggesting he was at home with his family.
Despite weeks of heavy rain that inundated the surrounding areas, the town of Pickering in North Yorkshire stayed safe from the floods simply by working with rather than against nature.
Pickering flooded in 2007 but couldn't get funding for a flood barrier. Instead a smaller, and cheaper reservoir to store water and let it out slowly was built further up Pickering beck.
In addition, 167 small, leaky dams were built out of logs and branches and trees were planted.
ITV News Science Correspondent Alok Jha reports:
The water's gone and the politicians have started arguing, writes Martin Geissler - but what next for those left devastated by the floods?
Environment Agency boss Sir Philip Dilley is to be quizzed by MPs about the recent flooding.