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December鈥檚 floods caused widespread disruption and misery, and our hearts go out to all those who were, and still are affected.

But it鈥檚 happening much more frequently and on a larger scale than we anticipated, and clearly Britain is poorly prepared to defend against or deal with it. It also appears to be on a rising curve, as you鈥檇 expect if it鈥檚 associated with climate change. So we clearly need to do something about it.

David Rooke, a flooding expert and deputy chief executive of the UK Environment Agency urges a 鈥榗omplete rethink鈥� of UK flood defences as a result of climate change. 鈥淲e are in a period of known extremes and moving into a period of unknown extremes,鈥� he said. We鈥檇 have to look at flood defences and flood-proofing homes and increasing their resilience, he added.

The World Meteorological Organisation expects global average temperature to hit a record high in 2015. The UK Met Office says the world is likely to be even warmer this year and 鈥渂y the end of 2016, we will have seen three record or near-record years in a row for global temperatures鈥�. A warmer atmosphere contains more moisture and energy, so climate change means more violent storms and extreme rainfall.

In England, December鈥檚 mean temperature of 9.5⁰C was well above average and 2⁰C above 1934, the previous record. It was so warm, daffodils were photographed in bloom. It was so moist, Storm Desmond dropped 34cm of rain on Honister Pass in Cumbria in a 24 hour period in December, another UK record.

The problem is, we鈥檝e watched and talked about these changes but acted as if nothing has changed. We haven鈥檛 changed our priorities, or the way we behave and build.

The Government has allocated a 拢2.3bn flood defence budget for this five year parliament. It says that鈥檚 an increase on the previous five years. Yet accountants KPMG estimates the full cost of December鈥檚 floods to be over 拢5bn, including 拢2bn for repairing flood defences.

So, the cost of repairing December鈥檚 flooding in the North of England will use up nearly 90% of the UK鈥檚 five year flood defence budget!

Despite repeated policy statements and insurance companies withdrawing support, one new home in every 14 in 2013-14, the most recent period for which data is available, was built on land with a significant chance of flooding.

One good thing that has come out of December鈥檚 damage and distress is that the way we design and build our homes and properties is now on the agenda. Let鈥檚 hope Government asks people in the industry, who have some of the answers, how it should change.

Andy Williamson is Group Managing Director for roofing suppliers IKO plc.