Environment Agency worker 'spat on' in 2014 Somerset Floods

"We got spat on, kicked, punched - but this is understandable," Mr Rowlands said

An environment agency worker said he was physically attacked after the Somerset floods of 2014.

John Rowlands was in charge of managing the aftermath of the disaster and has recalled the backlash against officials 10 years on.

Some people who had been affected by the floods blamed the agency, saying rivers had not been properly dredged.

"We got spat on, kicked, punched - but this is understandable," Mr Rowlands said.

"They wanted to vent, the blame had to be apportioned somewhere," he added.

The village of Moorland was at the centre of the Somerset floods in 2014

Mr Rowlands, who is now retired, told BBC Radio Somerset that the Environment Agency had been watching the water come in for months before the devastating winter floods.

"This clearly was a generational event. It just didn't stop raining," he said.

"Pumping stations could not operate because the river was just far too high to pump into."

'It will be devastating'

He said they came up with an Enhanced Pumping Strategy, which had to be approved by the government's emergency Cobra committee because they were concerned it might increase flooding risks further north.

Lorries with pumps were coming in from Holland to help at one point.

Prince Charles, as he was then, visited Muchelney in Feb 2014 by boat, the only way in at the time

Mr Rowlands said he remembers some of the lorries carrying the pumps were late for the ferry crossing to the UK.

"I went back to Cobra to see if they could delay the ferry," he said. "About half an hour later they went: 'Yep, it's all sorted. The ferry will not sail until the lorries are on board.'"

Asked about future floods, Mr Rowlands said: "We will be seeing these intense rainfall events which will drop these huge quantities of water over a very short period of time.

"It will be devastating."