Peter Quarmby, EA flood and coastal manager, said the internet and social networks will be used to teach people how to find out if their homes or businesses are in a flood risk area and how they can minimise potential damage to their properties.

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Phillip Pickersgill, the EA's flood risk manager for south west Wales, said the "unfortunate thing" was that the River Leri had a small catchment area and he did not believe officials had "missed any signs".

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But on EA's official forum, Origin's community manager Sam Houston said the company would "honour all sales made with the coupon code over the weekend and hope fans enjoy their games".

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In a blogpost, Lucy Bradshaw, general manager for SimCity, said the way Electronics Arts (EA) and Maxis, the studio that created the game, had set up the servers had contributed to the problems.

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