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Jess Neumann, Associate Professor of Hydrology, University of Reading

This waterlogged corner of England was once only habitable during summer. Climate change could make it so again

Flooding across the Somerset Levels in January 2026. Vortex525/Shutterstock

Standing on the hills looking out across flat green fields, linked by a network of hedgerows, copses and small settlements, the Somerset Levels looks like quintessential English countryside.

But this region’s rivers, drains, waterways and wetlands are integral to the levels’ history – an inhospitable, and at times perilously flooded, watery world, centuries ago only habitable during the summer months.

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