We seem to have had a lot of this recently and the common message put out is "climate change". IMO the basic cause is closer to home and in the latest case it looks like an old structure that's either past it's sell by date or maybe there's a maintenance aspect.
I don't know about Whaley Bridge but having seen at first hand the flooding in Wainfleet (Lincolnshire) which is on my daily bike ride, I'm convinced there's an aspect of the latter involved or maybe just a lack of awareness by the authorities. Because it's Lincolnshire and not London it didn't make headlines but as you say, the devastation caused by flooding doesn't just cause one or two upsets, it tends to be large parts of the local community and there were skips of furniture outside loads of houses.
Brian
