UNBELIEVABLE as it may seem, we are marking the first anniversary of the great floods of 2000 after enjoying the balmy pleasures of the warmest October on record.

Yes, truth can be stranger than fiction, and our weather truly is a mixed bag nowadays.

Since records began in 1659, we've never had it so good, or so strange, in October. Spring flowers can already be seen in delicate bloom and traditional summer Sunday pastimes still hold sway as we mow lawns and sit outside enjoying the garden.

As worrying as all of this is environmentally, it makes it hard to believe that, just 12 months ago, we were under siege to the most tempestuous weather seen in a generation.

The weather vanes span endlessly in the winds and the rain just kept on coming. But like a gleaming excalibur, the legendary spirit of the Faithful City rose out of the depths and couldn't be dampened come hell or high water.

Here at the Evening News there were stories aplenty of people triumphing over adversity, mopping up the nightmare with a tear and a smile.

Worcester was hit by the worst floods for 50 years and everybody braced themselves for the worst.

Roads were flooded, diversions were congested and crossing the city was an exercise in extraordinary patience.

Then the pinnacle came with the closure of the main Worcester bridge one lunchtime in November - the first time in more than 50 years.

The city council made the move after they assessed the forecast for Wales, as the rains there had a knock-on effect all the way along the Severn.

On first viewing, engineer Andy Walford thought that the figures were wrong. Then he realised they had to take action because the worst was yet to come.

"We received a lot of criticism for closing the bridge because we acted on a prediction that didn't prove true on that day," he said earlier this year.

"But the next day the river rose at a rapid rate. Once people saw the water they realised it was dangerous."

The emergency services worked tirelessly, with the fire service battling its way through the water to rescue hundreds of distressed residents.

The Territorial Army was called in to help ferry people across the river and business owners and restaurants could only pack up as much as possible and wait for the murky waters to subside.

People were rescued from the second floors of their homes while cars bobbed by and swans gracefully glided into new areas.

And then it stopped, and life in Worcester changed because nobody escaped unaffected. Lives were turned upside down along with the furniture.

One year on, it could be argued that we are still on a sharp learning curve. There are action groups and agencies doing sterling work to ensure that next time we will be better protected and better prepared.

Only time will tell whether the new improved flood defences will keep us safe and dry, but the truth is that rivers, by their very nature, always have and always will break their banks.

Since the days of the first settlements we have challenged Nature by our insistence on living in such close proximity to the water, so if anyone is to blame, it's our forebears.

Cold comfort, I know, so let's look on the bright side. When the rain came down and the floods came up, people drowned their sorrows in a cuppa and got on with the damage limitation.

Call it tea and sympathy or call it community spirit, but it'll take more than floods, ferocious wind and rain and complete and utter disruption to knock the stuffing out of Worcester.