Hundreds of thousands of Britons hit by the worst flooding in 60 years in Britain faced further misery on Thursday as forecasters predicted more rain in the areas most badly affected.

New research indicates that water levels in the Mediterranean Sea rose and fell several times during a period in which the sea became separated from the Atlantic Ocean. During the so-called Messinian Salinity Crisis, believed to have begun about 6 million years ago, a combination of tectonic uplift and sea-level variation in the Atlantic Ocean progressively isolated the Mediterranean Sea.

Weather models are not good at predicting rain. Particularly in hilly terrain, this can lead to great damage arising from late warnings of floods, or even none at all. From June 1 to September 1, 2007 Delft University of Technology is participating in a major international experiment in Germany's Black Forest, to learn more about what causes rain.