We have had more floods in the village, just twelve months after the worst floods we had seen for forty years.

|Last October, I wrote:
During the hours before 30th October 2000, heavy rains over the whole of the South of England threatened many areas near to the rivers and Little Waltham was no exception. Many people have seen the Chelmer in flood, but only rarely have any houses been menaced. Throughout the morning, which was free of rain, the water level continued to rise. As usual the field between the Winckford bridge and the bypass flooded as did fields downstream. But the waters rose further, encircling 51 The Street and flooding into Walden Cottage and Riverside. Finally, around 3.0 p.m. the river extended across the road, making it impassable to pedestrians if they lacked wellingtons. Riverside, a 300 year-old house just downstream of the bridge saw the water rise over a foot inside its rooms. The Borough Council sent out two lorries with sand and bags and various hands helped to try to protect vulnerable buildings. In fact, by then the river had almost reached its peak and from then on, the risk of further damage receded.
Tuesday (31st) started dry and bright and the clear-up began.

I went on to say :
Such a catastrophe is quite rare. I have never seen the like in all my forty two years in the village, and despite all the forebodings about climate change by the doom makers, we can but hope that it will be another forty years before it happens again.

Yet, it happened again:
In the small hours of Monday 22nd October 2001, following steady rain for perhaps 24 hours,  the owners of Riverside were awakened by the crash of a table lamp, tipped over by flood waters, such was the speed of the rise of the river level.  Its height exceeded by a small margin, the peak of last year.