There was one flood in particular that shook the town more than two centuries ago, when Dawlish had just evolved from a fishing village into a fashionable place to visit at the turn of the 19th century - a transformation noticed by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and John Keats, who mentioned the town in their writings.

On the night of 9 November 1810, this week 211 years ago, the Brook flooded with water from the Haldon Hills, and a significant amount of new developments in the town were destroyed.

Weirs were then put in place to combat flooding - but it has remained a problem to this day.

In August 2021, the Environment Agency began offering a new flood warning service for Dawlish Water that you can sign up to. Click here to find out more.