Across the UK, across continental North America, and around the world, on the internet by

webcast and by podcast, my name is Howard Hughes and this is the unexplained.

Thank you very much for the flood of emails recently and flood is a word maybe I shouldn't

be using at the moment because here in the UK, and especially in the part of the UK

that I live in, we are gripped by a flood crisis.

I'm not a big one for lapsing into tabloid headlines, but that is what it is.

I've spent a couple of days this week reporting from a little place called Ray's

Burry, which is in the country not very far from London's Heathrow Airport and very

close to the Thames, which has become very relevant to these people who've had to

deal with floods before, but now they're saying not on this scale for many, many

decades. I have seen heart-rending stories this week of people who've been flooded

out, lost a lot, washed out of their homes, people crying, people asking for help, and

as I record this, the army is now in Ray's Burry, a hundred troops, and many dedicated

volunteer rescuers and other people helping those people out. But again, as I record

these words, the worst is not over and at this moment, while I record, there is a storm

pounding my window.

Now if you think about this, the storms that have gripped the UK and you may not know about

this if you're in the States, but if you're in Britain, you will know about this. They've

been a fact of our reality for about two months now. It all started well before Christmas.

And yes, our weather's been mild, but it's been very, very wet and very, very stormy.

There have been all sorts of effects here. If you're in America or another place, check

it out online. You'll see a washed away railroad in one place in the southwest of England.

...