Eric Pickles says the UK Government made a “mistake” in not dredging rivers to prevent flooding but blamed the Environment Agency for providing poor advice.
The Communities Secretary, who has taken temporary charge of the response to the crisis, issued an unreserved apology to those affected in the Somerset Levels.
Repeated calls for dredging were made to Downing Street and other Whitehall departments by farmers and others in the region from at least six months ago but funding was declined.
“We made a mistake, there’s no doubt about that and we perhaps relied too much on the Environment Agency’s advice,” he told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show.
Mr Pickles has criticised under-fire EA chairman Lord Smith for refusing to say sorry for the failures when he was besieged by angry locals on a visit to Somerset.
Asked if Prime Minister David Cameron should also apologise, Mr Pickles said: “I’ll apologise. I’ll apologise unreservedly.”
However, Dr Hannah Cloke, a flood expert and associate professor in hydrology at the University of Reading, criticised Mr Pickles for his comments on dredging. “Ministers’ continuing knee-jerk reaction is worrying,” she said. “It’s crazy to be trying to command and control very local dredging operations from Whitehall.
“The idea that dredging on its own would have made the critical difference over the last month is fanciful. This crisis has been years in the making and will be years in the solving. There are no easy answers.”
Last night there were 16 severe flood warnings – meaning a risk to life – in place, along the Thames and the Somerset Levels.
Nearly 300 low-level flood alerts and almost 200 medium-risk warnings have been issued across Wales and central and southern England.
Met Office chief scientist Dame Julia Slingo said while there was not yet “definitive proof”, “all the evidence” pointed to a role for climate change in extreme weather.