Underwater dangers included strong currents and lifted drains

Plans to protect parts of East Peckham were formed after the area was hit by heavy rain and major floods.

The village was one of several low-lying areas in Kent where houses had to be evacuated in autumn 2000.

Residents also left homes in the badly-hit villages of Yalding, Collier Street, Laddingford and Stile Bridge.

Sandbag supplies

Behind the Leigh flood barrier the water storage area reached its maximum capacity.

The barrier had been built in 1981 to protect Tonbridge and villages including East Peckham, but that year the River Medway was allowed to flow into areas of Tonbridge, leaving sports fields and the town's swimming pool submerged.

Further deluges in 2002 led to East Peckham residents forming a flood group to organise sandbag supplies, help find flood wardens, and issue safety advice.

Defences are being shored up in Lewes after floods in 2000

The flood group represented the villagers as authorities including the Environment Agency stepped in to work on the dam-building project.

Tonbridge and Malling council has said what became "a real community project" is now to be used as a study project for schoolchildren who will see first-hand the building of a dam.

The authority said the dam would be substantially completed by September.

Cllr Matthew Balfour said it was the "last and most exciting stage of the scheme".

Work also began this year on shoring up flood defences in Lewes, East Sussex, where homes, shops and businesses were devastated by flooding in October 2000.

The Environment Agency is repairing 35m of the River Ouse wall with 20m-high pilings at a cost of �300,000.

Damage put at �80m was caused when the river burst its banks and 4ins of rain fell in 12 hours.

The Environment Agency said repairs would prevent further deterioration of defences and protect a key area of Lewes.