Floods 'not linked to climate change'
11:56am Tuesday 11th March 2008
Scientists have found last summer's floods in Oxfordshire were a freak event and not linked to climate change.
The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology said the amount of rainfall between May and July was "remarkable".
But the high levels of rain do not fit with trends towards drier, hotter summers and wetter winters expected under climate change models.
Report author Terry Marsh said: "The river floods of summer 2007 were a very singular episode, which does not form part of any clear historical trend or show consistency with currently favoured climate change scenarios."