The county is not “locked into” a winter of higher flood risk despite recent wet weather, officials have said.

Last month, Oxfordshire had its wettest month ever – although the rainfall came after a drier than normal summer for much of the UK.

Officials from the Met Office and Environment Agency are urging people to be prepared for flooding, at the launch of “flood action week” on the anniversary of Storm Babet which brought significant floods across the country.

England endured its wettest 18 months on record up to March 2024.

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Dr Will Lang, from the Met Office, said many areas remained very wet, rivers were high and ground was sensitive to rain, particularly in southern and central England.

But he said that did not mean it would continue that way throughout the autumn and winter, saying there was “still time for things to reset”.

Dr Lang pointed to a La Nina weather pattern likely to start developing in the Pacific which tends to favour cooler and drier conditions in the UK in the start of winter.

But he added that “everything was still on the table”.

Flooding in Yarnton earlier this year Flooding in Yarnton earlier this year (Image: David Brimson) “The advice is, as we would usually say, plan for everything, because a normal winter can even then include extremes of weather and some flooding, and there is still a probability, a possibility, of it either being a wet and flood-prone winter or conversely, a dry winter,” he said.

Caroline Douglass, executive director of flood and coastal risk management for the Environment Agency, said: “Climate change means extreme weather events are happening more frequently, and we have already seen an unusually wet September this year.

“We can’t always predict where the rain will fall or where flooding will occur, but we do know which areas are at risk.

“That is why it is essential we all do our part by checking our flood risk and signing up for flood warnings this Flood Action Week.”

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People are being urged to use a free Government service to check the risk of flooding in their area and sign up for flood warnings by phone, text or email.

They are also being urged to take steps to protect their homes, by keeping important documents in a waterproof location, taking rugs and small furniture upstairs, and checking how to turn off electricity and water.

Around 5.5 million properties in England are at risk from flooding, officials say.

Floods Minister Emma Hardy said: “Through the recent launch of our Floods Resilience Taskforce, this government is taking decisive action to accelerate the development of flood defences and bolster the nation’s resilience to extreme weather.”