1,800 properties flooded, Mallows's story is a reminder of the lasting impact of such deluges.

She lives alone in the farmhouse on the banks of the River Tone in the middle of Curry Moor just 6m above sea level. In heavy rain the moor fills with water and is stored there, preventing towns such as Taunton and Bridgwater becoming inundated. But properties such as hers are badly hit.

Back in spring after the second wettest April on record in Somerset, Mallows's home was flooded and she had to move out to rented accommodation in Glastonbury. Burglars realised she was away and waded through the water, which lay stagnating on the moor for weeks, to the farmhouse. There was nothing to steal so they vandalised it instead.

Mallows only got back homehad fallen. "I was worried about getting out the window in the dark as I'm a bit wobbly." So she spent another cold and damp night in her flooded home.

Next morning the rescue was mounted. The water on the road to Mallows's home was so deep that firefighters had to leave their engine a mile away and haul a boat through the water to the front door.

Six rescuers waded through and made their way upstairs. They decided the best way to get Mallows out would be to carry her out down the stairs and through the flooded ground floor.

"They said, 'we won't drop you', and hoisted me up flat. They took me out horizontally as you would with a coffin. It must have been quite a funny sight.