The UK Is Losing the Race Against Devastating Floods

About 900 years ago, Medieval monks began resurrecting an expanse of land in southwest England that languished underwater for half the year. Stone by stone, workers built walls to close off sections of the wetland and dug ditches to drain the plots. It was slow and piecemeal work until the invention of the steam engine, which allowed Victorian engineers to install pumps that sucked water out of the valley. Today, tens of thousands of homes sit on the Somerset levels and moors. The Glastonbury music festival, a famously soggy affair, takes place nearby.

Throughout civilization, humans have sought to hold ...