The Charente in Flood

On the way to ‘animating’ my English Conversation group, stopped to snap the river running through Saintes. It has burst its banks, again. No real issues, as this happens most years. The difference here is that there are no buildings built on the flood plain. The water just runs into it, then subsides and returns to a normal river. Perhaps some of the problems in the UK (not all, I accept) are due to failure to retain natural flood run-off areas. Houses close to pretty rivers may look nice, and sell well, but should they ever be built?