Madam, Your daughter's concern (The Gazette View, last week) was/is understandable. One presumes she was on the EA Floodline text/email service?We are too. However, sad to say, having headed for the hills the first few times, we have rather 'taken a view' on its accuracy, and hence value, since.

Such things are only as good as the faith one can have in them. It's understandable that official bodies may wish to err on the side of caution to avoid being held to account for consequences of not warning, but it can take a lot to act on advice ('Immediate action required - Act now to protect yourself and your property - Move family, pets and valuables to a safe place, etc'). Then when reality does not match prediction too often, one tends to ignore them after a while. Not optimal. No warning is clearly not good. But blanket warning risks means people becoming inured. Is there no way to get a better handle on likely local condition in detail? I know the websites can carry updated levels, etc, but these are hard to equate to imminent actual conditions on the ground within a sensible timeframe to start moving people out. There must surely be a way to flag yet another park, pitch or Hope & Anchor carpark puddle versus something that may threaten homes or lives?And as there are clearly multiple agencies in operation, maybe there are some better means to serve the town? Whilst the Wye coming up is a clear danger, what comes down via brooks or runoffs no longer absorbed by farmland lost to development or poorly cleared drainage can also affect those well above the designated flood plain zone.Also, to endorse Ms. Drabble's concern on thrill-seeking canoeists. Whilst experienced, qualified or not it seems unfair to risk diversion of emergency services at such times in case they find things deteriorate. That said, a rate of a truck length in just under half a minute does not sound like one to get too excited by, unless going upstream. Which, given the flow, would be impressive.Peter Martin, Ross