Have had gooseberries with burst skins in years gone by - same with grapes and toms. It happens because the skins harden during the hot dry period, then when they try to take up more water when it does rain, the skins can't expand. The only solution I know is to water them during the dry periods.
I think that the trick you quote about leaving side branches on toms after floods is fine for flood situations, because the skins haven't hardened and the plant sheds some water into the side stems, which you'd normally cut off. It wouldn't work if skins have hardened during hot dry spells of weather.
