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During the 2013–2014 winter, many areas of the UK were battered by an unprecedented series of storms. Thousands of acres of farmland on the Somerset Levels were submerged under floodwater for a month or longer, destroying crops and ruining grazing land. Key transport links through the rural counties of Devon and Cornwall were also affected. The mainline railway in Dawlish, Devon, was left suspended in the air after the town's seawall was washed away in a storm at the beginning of February. The whole episode highlighted how vulnerable communities are to extreme weather events, and how dependent we are on the flood defences designed to protect lives and homes. Whitehall found itself in the eye of the storm as angry residents and farmers demanded action and answers. As the flooding dominated the political and news headlines, the residents of the Somerset Levels found themselves playing host to a stream of dignitaries. The wader-clad VIPs included Prince Charles, David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Owen Paterson and Environment Agency chairman Lord Smith. The following political storm focused on two fronts: dredging and funding. The dredging row focused on the Somerset Levels. Local farmers' ire was directed towards the Environment Agency, which had scaled back the amount of silt that was removed from the rivers running through the Levels. The agency said that dredging was not only an expensive operation, it actually did not help increase river channels sufficiently to prevent flooding in the first place, and there was evidence that it could do more environmental harm than good. This position was backed up by the findings of a report published by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management in February, which suggested that widespread dredging could actually exacerbate flooding risks in some communities. This was not a view shared by Ian Liddell-Grainger, Conservative MP for Bridgewater and West Somerset. During a Westminster Hall debate, he was scathing in his criticism of the Environment Agency, saying it was not providing value for money. Referring to the widespread flooding in his constituency, he stated: 'That is not a freak act of nature; it is unforgiveable negligence.' While Environment Secretary Owen Paterson was admitted to hospital for urgent surgery at the beginning of February, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles stepped in to cover the ministerial brief. Mr Pickles, rather than playing a political straight bat, used an interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show to apologise on behalf of the government, saying that it was a 'mistake' not to dredge the rivers on the Somerset Levels. 15 AGRICULTURE EDITION REVIEW OF THE YEAR | Flooding The flooding of the Somerset Levels in winter 2013–2014 led to a political storm