People in Oxfordshire have been urged to make their homes more flood-proof because further downpours are unavoidable.

Sir Michael Pitt, in his independent report on last summer's floods, today produced 92 recommendations to ensure the county was better prepared for a repeat of last July's heavy rainfall.

But rather than blame the Government for failing to keep the water rushing into residential streets, Sir Michael said the problems stemmed from the way homes had been built, which forced families to wait for long periods for their properties to dry out after getting a soaking.

Sir Michael suggested it was unrealistic to ban future development on flood plains, arguing that in some parts of the country there is no real alternative to development in flood risk areas given the huge demand for housing.

Instead, he said building regulations were the key, not just to ensure new houses could withstand flooding but to make sure the right refurbishments were made after flood damage.

This included raising the height of wiring and plug sockets. He also stressed the importance of improving drainage systems.

Introducing his report, he warned extreme weather events were likely to become more frequent and said his aim was to make householders lives more bearable in the event of future floods.

Calling for earlier information for householders in danger of flooding, with better co-operation between the Environment Agency and the Met Office, he said: "Many people flooded long before they received any warning from any organisations about the flood risk.

"I'm a great believer in knocking on doors, using the best intelligence to see where flooding will take place, and also afterwards to see how people are getting on."

He added: "We need better advice for people so they can better protect their homes."

Sir Michael repeated calls for residents to stock up with flood kits - including supplies of food and water - in preparation for future emergencies.

Setting out his observations of the way the floods were dealt with, he said emergency and other services had not been well briefed on the implication of the loss of critical infrastructure sites such as electricity substations.

He said: "Emergency services and utilities companies were all taken aback by the sheer scale and impact of the flood that took place last summer."

He also criticised the enormous amount of time it was taking for many people to get back into their homes, with 4,000 people still living in temporary accommodation. About 180 families are still out in Oxfordshire.

He pointed out there was a close correlation between people's mental and physical health and the amount of time they had been displaced from their homes.

He called for Government to publish monthly updates on the number of people still in temporary accommodation and said Oxfordshire County Council should set up a special scrutiny committee to ensure the county was prepared for future heavy downpours.

Sandbags, used widely in Oxfordshire last summer, were not nearly as useful and effective as people might think they are, Sir Michael said.

He called for action to make it easier for low income families to get insurance, because insured households were able to get back to their homes and get their lives back in order relatively quickly, while those without had struggled.