When Reg Winsor read about the floods in Sussex last year, he remembered a device he had invented in 1979.
The retired engineer read about the devastation caused when the rivers Ouse and Uck burst their banks and dusted-off the plans for his invention, which he called Floodgate.
The device is now on the market and has met with the approval the Department for the Environment.
In simple terms, it is fitted across a door and holds back floodwater up to two feet deep.
Mr Winsor, 66, from Devon, said: "It is really very simple. It's not heavy and it won't spoil the look of a house and the frame can be fitted in eight minutes."
Among his latest customers are the TV magician Paul Daniels and his wife Debbie McGee, who were flooded twice in their Thameside home in six weeks.
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