Britain’s spy headquarters for listening in on signals around the world was severely disrupted by last year’s floods that inundated large parts of England.

Staff at the agency — which works on counter-terrorism, military and other security operations — managed to keep their most important operations running but feared their work could have been hit even more had the flooding got worse.

GCHQ is based near the city of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, western England, which was the worst hit county by flooding last June and July. At the time, officials played down the impact of the rising waters.

The site is powered by an electricity sub-station which came within inches of flooding, but officials said it would have been able to continue using back-up generators.

The politicians and military whizbangs who built this doughnut never noticed they were siting it in a flood plain. Did they not think of asking someone who lived there?

Though the River Chelt was “relocated” decades ago – that didn’t change its original course. And in flood conditions? It’s back – of course.