By DPA
London : "Open for business – come hell or high water" read the notice outside the severely-flooded George Inn pub in Quedgeley, south-west Britain, summing up the mood of defiance, sarcasm and resilience that has marked the summer flood crisis in Britain.
The army and police stepped in discreetly, but firmly and effectively, to hand out rations of bottled water to the 350,000 people whose supplies have been cut off.
In the county of Gloucestershire, long queues snaked around supermarkets as shoppers were told to limit purchases to three loaves of bread, 12 cartons of milk and 16 litres of water to stop panic buying.
"This is what we British love – queuing and moaning and having a laugh at ourselves," said Alan Davies, 46.
"You just have to grin and bear it. There's a real community spirit to it," added Graham Smith, 65, standing in queue.
Despite the outward calm, solidarity and proverbial stiff upper lip, there were disturbing signs Wednesday that the political fall-out from this year's floods, the worst since 1947, could be explosive.
After weeks of wading in water, from Yorkshire in northern Britain to Gloucestershire in the southwest, there were signs that peoples' patience could be running out.
In Quedgeley, Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, a picturesque town submerged by water for almost a week, calls went up for the provision of more portable lavatories as fears over sewage treatment and sanitation grew.
The government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, faced with a major terrorism crisis over the attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow immediately after it took power at the end of June, has been accused by critics of having been unprepared for the floods.
Brown, who has repeatedly visited the stricken areas, said that Britain, faced with the "worst floods in modern history," now had to focus on bringing "19th and 20th century infrastructure into line with 21st century conditions."
"Like every advanced industrialised country, we are coming to terms with the issues surrounding climate change," said Brown.
The government has increased to 800 million pounds ($1.6 billion) the funds made available for flood defences, as 46 million pounds have been set aside for dealing with the more immediate consequences of the flooding.
Insurance claims are expected to run into billions of pounds while the damage to agriculture, possibly resulting in higher food prices, remains incalculable.
Inadequate drainage system, mostly built in Victorian times, chronic under-investment in upgrading sewers, and continued building on flood plains have all been blamed for the extent of the crisis.
As experts are making a link to global warming, they also concede that the volume of rainfall – with a month's worth of rain coming down in just an hour in some places – was "extremely unusual".
"It is new. It is entirely unfamiliar. And yet it is exactly what has been forecast for the past decade and more," said Michael McCarthy, environmental editor of the Independent newspaper.