Around 16,000 properties were affected by flooding in December, the secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs, Liz Truss, told parliament.
Some 9,000 properties in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire were flooded on Boxing Day, adding to the 7,000 homes that were flooded in Cumbria earlier that month.
Flood defences protected more than 20,000 properties, Truss said.
The Guardian, p. 7
