Periods of high rainfall are nothing new and go back as far as history does but there are more built up areas on floodplains now. Would dredging help reduce floods?

Dredging is a known feature within civil engineering, but its purpose is to make the river safe for navigation. In some spots the main channel silts up and then has to be dredged so boats can pass safely.

The Worcester Bridge has to be cleared of tree debris every now and then too. This debris holds up water going under the bridge so would worsen floods if it is left. However, dredging is not often part of flood prevention.

READ MORE: Don't set the bar too high and the effort's worth it

When the river overflows, it is because the flow of the river, the amount of water passing through, is so much that it needs the whole floodplain to expand into.

Digging into and lowering the riverbed by a few feet does not actually make a big difference to the river when it is in flood. This is because the width of the bit that is dredged is much less than the width of the floodplain.

Built up land across the county means a lot of rain drains quickly from roofs, gutters, roadsides and drains into the river resulting in the peak discharge being sooner and higher.

The greener strategy for flood defence is to allow more natural habitats like woodland, wetland with marshes to grow throughout the entire catchment of the river.

These soak up the rain and let it out slowly, meaning a lower peak drawn out longer. It means a lot more joined up thinking up and down the river all the way into Shropshire and Wales.

What they do affects us here, and what we do affects those downstream in Gloucester. As usual the green answer is more trees.