Recent flooding in Oxfordshire - including at Abingdon Tesco Extra - has been a reminder of the devastating effects of a huge deluge.
Here we look back at some archive photos of severe flooding around the county, including in Oxford - on the Abingdon and Botley roads.
In July 2007, Oxfordshire suffered its worst floods in living memory.
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On Tuesday, July 24, 2007, thousands of people across West Oxfordshire were left to pick up the pieces of their lives after the most devastating floods they had ever seen.
Hundreds of people who had been forced to flee their homes returned to assess the damage: floors, carpets and furniture ruined; electrical appliances destroyed and gardens turned into swamps.
People in Oxford already knew that record rainfall which had fallen in Gloucestershire and the west of the county was slowly but surely swelling the tributaries that feed the Thames, and some kind of flooding was inevitable.
What they could not have predicted was the sheer scale of the disaster.
To make matters worse, on that day west Oxford was battered with a further seven inches of rain in 24 hours.
As flood experts have long known, Oxford suffers far worse from flooding than other cities of a similar size because the seven rivers and streams which feed into the city are funnelled into a small but narrow valley at the bottom of Abingdon Road, which acts as a dam for the entire city.
Abingdon and Botley Road were both quickly inundated and police had to evacuate 250 homes - mostly in west Oxford.
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The Oxford Mail offices in Osney Mead were almost cut off when Ferry Hinksey Road was inundated and printing had to be switched from Oxford to Brighton.
On July 25, The Government pledged a further £10m to help battle the floods in addition to the £14m promised by Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier in the month.
In Bridge Street, on Osney Island, Bill Bowell and his wife Edna were forced to flee the home they bought 46 years before and where they raised their five children.
The following year, Mr Bowell, then 75, told the Oxford Mail: "I never expected to see water rising inside our house.
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"The water ended up coming through the back door of the house, running through the front door. I remember my daughter turning to me and saying, 'dad, you cannot stay here'."
Following the floods, Dr Peter Rawcliffe set up Oxford Flood Alliance, which worked with the Environment Agency on plans for the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme.
The £176m scheme will begin north of Botley Road and end south of the A423 near Kennington.
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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF
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