Alberta O. Jones was a trailblazing Black lawyer and attorney. Born in Kentucky, she graduated at the top of her class from the newly integrated University of Louisville and then Howard University School of Law. In 1959, Jones became one of the first Black women admitted to the Kentucky bar, and in 1965 became Louisville’s first woman prosecutor. She also helped to educate and register Black voters, and she negotiated a contract for boxer Cassius Clay, her neighbor, who would become Muhammad Ali.

Politicians have looked weak in the face of such natural disaster, with many facing criticism from local residents for doing little more than turning up as “flood tourists” at the site of disasters, incapable of helping those in crisis and only there for a photo opportunity. The Environment Agency, the body responsible for combating floods and managing rivers, has also been blamed for failing to curb the disasters. But there’s an ever larger debate over the role of climate change in the current floods and storms, and it has been unremittingly hostile.

Politicians have looked weak in the face of such natural disaster, with many facing criticism from local residents. —  Julia Slingo, ETF

For those affected by flooding however, their immediate concerns are not necessarily about the manmade changes to the earth’s atmosphere. A YouGov poll from February found that while 84% of those surveyed believed Britain was likely to experience similar extreme weather events in the next few years, only 30% thought it was connected to man-made climate change.

There is no evidence to counter the basic premise that a warmer world will lead to more intense daily and hourly rain events. When heavy rain in 2000 devastated parts of Britain, a later study found the climate change had doubled the chances of the flood occurring, said Julia Slingo.