THESE past few days have seen the first test of flood defences installed after the major problems of 2000.

Have they coped? In the main, yes.

However, the New Year flooding has exposed some weaknesses despite being far less severe than two years ago.

Naburn residents discovered a main road into the village cut off again yesterday, despite the Environment Agency building a £500,000 embankment to keep the Ouse at bay.

Their surprise turned to bemusement when the agency insisted that the defences had not been breached. Instead, a beck had backed up. That is little comfort for villagers whose lives have been disrupted again.

You could forgive Norton residents for similar bewilderment. They were told to prepare for flooding less than a fortnight after the agency declared a £6.3 million flood defence scheme for the area watertight.

In the event, the defences have done their job. The warning might be put down to over-anxious staff at the agency, well aware of the criticism they received for being too late with their warnings on previous occasions.

Better safe than sorry, perhaps.

The truth is, flood defence is not an exact science. At its most basic, it could not be simpler: a sandbag on the doorstep.

But constructing permanent safeguards which do not simply channel a mighty flow of water from one populated area to another is highly complex.

A report into protecting the Ouse flood plain, using computer models, has been delayed for months because it is proving so complicated. When finished, it should provide a blueprint for the sort of Ouse defences we need for the next 20 years.

But it is only when flood defences are in place that we truly know their worth. Computer models are no match for the force of nature.

From the beck backing up near Naburn to the failure of an automatic valve in Norton, there are glitches in the new defences.

These must be addressed as the battle with what is becoming our perennial flood problem goes on.

Updated: 11:12 Friday, January 03, 2003