To mark the occasion, The Friends of Lewes, are organising a Flood Exhibition of photographs and memories, which will accompany a Flood Conference being organised by Lewes Town Council on Oct 31 and Nov 1this year.
They are asking for people's photographs and memories to go into the exhibition. And they ask: 'Do you have photographs or memorabilia of the Lewes Floods? Did you write a poem or paint any pictures?
'This October is the 25th Anniversary of the 2000 Lewes Floods when over 600 homes and 300 businesses were devastated, as following days of very heavy rain the river Ouse burst its banks and flooded large areas of Lewes.
'The Friends of Lewes are organising an exhibition of flood memories and experiences, and we would like to hear from people who can loan photographs/ memorabilia etc. We would also like to audio record people's memories of the time, and reflections 25 years on.
'We are particularly interested to hear from any children or families who slept in the Town Hall or Malling Community Centre and hear their memories and reflections 25 years on.
'If you can help, please come to the Climate Hub, Lewes House, 32 High Street, Lewes BN7 2LU between 11:30 and 13:30 on Wednesday, March 26or Saturday, April 5 2025. We very much look forward to seeing you.'
Some memories are particularly poignant. One is when then councillor Ruth O'Keeffe recalled the moment a crackly voice came through the police radio and she knew she had to turn back. The voice was saying: "We're floating mate, we're floating," The water was rising rapidly and it was a race against time to get to safety.
Ruth was trying to collect her children from their grandparents' house. In the end, it would take her three days. She was the last person across the town's central Phoenix Bridge before it was closed -too treacherous to cross.
To many Lewesians the days of torrential rain which led to 600 homes being evacuated are often known as simply "the flood".
Barrels of beer went floating up the River Ouse, cars were completely submerged and emergency workers were forced to smash their way into people's homes to rescue them from the rising water.
A Morris Road resident heard shouts from a nearby house. He had a small boat in his garden so rowed over the road to rescue an elderly lady from her upstairs window. And anyone in Lewes who wasn't actually flooded probably felt quite guilty about it, like thes urvivors of an aeroplane crash
Ruth said: "My daughter Siobhan and I got in this police van and he started driving," she said. "As he came round the corner into Orchard Road, the ambulance that was ahead of us radioed back - 'We're floating mate, we're floating,' and they sounded really panicky. Then he said 'Look I'm sorry, if they're floating in the ambulance we can't go down there, we'll have to go back down the hill'.
"So we went back down the hill which by now had a puddle at the bottom of it as well. We were standing around and someone went off to rescue the people in the ambulance which was in the most deeply flooded bit and we were standing by the roundabout wondering what to do next."
The picture of the floating ambulance later became synonymous with the floods and was even used by the WWF on a poster highlighting climate change.