The Yorkshire Post says: Flood of despair still in full flow. Legacy of storms take their toll

A LOT of water has passed under the proverbial bridge since parts of Yorkshire awoke exactly two years ago to some of the worst flooding in living memory.David Cameron '“ whose own response at the time was so superficial '“ has long left Downing Street after his own government was sunk by Brexit.

Elizabeth Truss, the then Environment Secretary, visits Tadcaster after the town's bridge collapsed two years ago.

Yet the political ebb and flow masks the fact that some flooding victims are still suffering hardship as they rebuild their homes and livelihoods.

For them, the toll is not just financial – its physical, mental and emotional – and only now is the Environment Agency finessing its flood resilience plans ahead of a new blueprint being considered by the Inter Ministerial Group on Flooding early next year.

Two years? This exercise should, frankly, have been completed within two months if London had been left submerged by Storms Desmond and Eva.

Yet, while Dr Thérèse Coffey, the current Environment Minister, has shown far more understanding of the issues than Elizabeth Truss, the totally hopeless Environment Secretary at the time of the floods, progress is still slow.

Though work on major new schemes for Leeds and York is underway, as well as pioneering projects across Yorkshire to make greater use of the natural environment to control the flow of water, there’s still a sense that the Government – and country – is under-investing in flood defences and the North is not receiving a fair share of funding.

With the aforementioned Ms Truss now Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and responsible for the allocation of public finances, let’s hope she understands – belatedly – the needs of vulnerable areas and make sure all new developments are flood-proofed from the outset in order to reduce the risks.

It’s the very least that all those victims still suffering in silence deserve.