article: As the victims struggle with the misery of damage, mud and ruin, officials say we have entered an era of "unknown extremes" of weather and they want a "complete rethink" of how flooding is handled. Some aspects of the response are infinitely improved from earlier disasters. The emergency teams from organisations as diverse as the fire brigades, the RNLI and the police are far better co-ordinated than they used to be. In Carlisle earlier this month, I saw one mountain rescue team, well-equipped with an inflatable boat, ropes, torches and radios, inch through deep water in total darkness to carefully and tenderly deliver a frightened woman to safety. But however professional the response, questions are inevitably raised about why this effort is needed in the first place, with people demanding to know why their communities were not better defended. And that leads to a sense of anger that as victims of flooding feel ignored or let down by the authorities for failing to keep them safe. I first witnessed this during the summer of 2007 in Hull, where thousands of families were displaced by floods with some still in temporary housing a year later. One family I interviewed were incensed at the prospect of facing a second Christmas in a chilly caravan. Earlier this month, residents in Carlisle, who had watched the construction of a £38m flood-defence scheme just five years before, reacted with fury as it was overtopped by rising waters. We have heard anger too from Leeds City Council which, like many northern authorities, believes that Whitehall favours the South when it comes to allocating funds for flood defence - though the government insists that the North does better on a per capita basis. And anger has been voiced in York in the past few days as the Environment Agency made a fateful decision to lift the Foss Barrier, a key part of the city's flood defence system. With the barrier's electrical motors at risk of flooding - something which itself will face investigation - staff feared that the barrier, if left lowered, could become stuck there, trapping the waters of the Foss and causing more flooding. But, in turn, the raising of the barrier inevitably meant some homes would be flooded anyway - fewer than would have been hit with the barrier left in place, says the EA, but this is a source of deep irritation for many. Along with the despair and the anger comes another dimension: scrutiny. This starts as soon as floods start to cause damage and in some cases the arguments are unchanging year after year. At its simplest are decisions about the scale of government funding - whether the £2.3bn allocated by the government over a six-year period is enough and, crucially, where to spend the money. The longstanding Treasury rule is that for every £1 devoted to flood defence, there must be an economic benefit of at least £8 - a principle which is designed to make saving homes the priority. So cities, with their dense populations, will attract more than rural areas
summary: Every bout of flooding triggers a predictable cycle of despair, anger and scrutiny, but this one has provoked an unprecedented level of criticism and questioning.