The British floods - update

Having neglected the West country now that the floods have reached his own backyard, David Cameron is offering “whatever it takes” and unlimted money

UK floods: severe warnings issued along Thames, with more rain to come

Environment Agency warns of danger to life in Berkshire, Surrey and Somerset, as Met Office warns of more rain

Follow live updates on the flooding crisis




the Guardian,

10 February, 2014

Sixteen severe flood warnings have been issued for southern England, with another band of strong winds and heavy rains set to lash Britain on Monday night.

The Environment Agency has issued 14 warnings of danger to life along the Thames, focusing on Berkshire and Surrey, with the remaining two applying to areas already devastated by flooding in the Somerset Levels. A further 141 flood warnings, indicating less serious risk, are also in place.

The Thames flood barrier has been closed for the 28th time this winter – the most since it was constructed – and severe warnings stretch along the river from Datchet to Shepperton Green, including Hamm Court and Chertsey. While the Environment Agency continues to pump water from flood-affected communities in Somerset, where rainfall overnight on Sunday saw levels rise still further, a spokesman said the agency's "main focus" was now on the Thames.

The warnings came as the political row over responsibility for the failure to dredge deepened. On Monday morning, the agency's chairman, Lord Smith, blamed Treasury spending rules for the agency's failure to spend more on dredging last year, and said his staff knew 100 times more than any politician about flood defence. Smith, responding to criticism from communities secretary Eric Pickles, also pointed out that, by contrast, the environment secretary, Owen Paterson, had been hugely supportive.

The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, on a visit to flood-stricken Burrowbridge in Somerset on Monday, also entered the row. He offered partial support to Smith, telling Sky News: "I don't think now is the time to point the finger of blame. Chris Smith and the Environment Agency have got a very difficult job to do. We can in the future look back and decide what went right and what went wrong. It is very clear, for instance, now that the calls here locally for the dredging of some of the local rivers, while it wouldn't have been a magic wand solution, clearly should have been done." David Cameron is also due to visit the south-west on Monday.

Flooding in Datchet, a village next to the river Thames near Windsor in Berkshire, forced National Rail to cancel trains on Monday morning and also prevented a replacement bus service being provided.

Services between Oxford and Radley have also been disrupted, while the rail link to the south-west remains completely cut off.

Network Rail is using shipping containers filled with rubble to provide a breakwater at Dawlish, where the mangled mainline to Cornwall was left dangling over the sea when the seawall was washed away last week.

Royal Marines from 40 Commando helped to prepare a further 20,000 sandbags for use in Somerset over the weekend. The Ministry of Defence has put 1,600 personnel on six hours' notice to help in the south.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for rain from Tuesday until Thursday covering most of southern England, the Midlands and Wales. It is forecasting that there could be over 30mm of rain across parts of south Wales and south-west England on Tuesday.

Here is a summary of the day's events from the Guardian Live Updates

Summary

Welcome to our live coverage of the worsening floods crisis and the increasingly bitter political row over ways of tackling the problem.

Here’s a summary of the main developments:

• The Environment Agency has issued 14 severe flood warnings along the Thames and still has two severe warnings in place for the Somerset Levels. A further 146 flood warnings are in place in the rest of the country.

• The Met Office has an amber warning for rain from Tuesday until Thursday covering most of southern England, the Midlands and Wales. It says another band of strong winds and heavy rains is set to hit Britain on Monday night. Up to 30mm of rain is predicted for the already waterlogged south-west and Wales.

• Lord Smith, the beleaguered head of the Environment Agency, has abandoned his diplomatic approach to the crisis by hitting back at government sniping of his agency. In an article for the Guardian, Smith, a former Labour cabinet minister, said:

In a lifetime in public life, I’ve never seen the same sort of storm of background briefing, personal sniping and media frenzy getting in the way of decent people doing a valiant job trying to cope with unprecedented natural forces.

• The communities secretary, Eric Pickles, said the government had relied “too much” on the “wrong-headed” advice of the Environment Agency not to dredge the Somerset Levels. Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Pickles was asked whether Smith should resign. He said: “Its a matter for him. It has been an unhappy time for Lord Smith and no doubt his lordship is reflecting on the feedback he has got from the people of Somerset. At least the Environment Agency will not need to organise a focus group to understand what people think.”

• The Thames flood barrier has been closed again as Royal Marines shore up vulnerable communities further up the river. The barrier has been closed 28 times this winter – its busiest period since it was constructed.

• The rail link to the south-west remains completely cut off. Network Rail is using shipping containers filled with rubble to provide a breakwater at Dawlish where the mangled mainline to Cornwall was left dangling over the sea when the seawall was washed away last week.

Dawlish: waves crash over the main Exeter-to-Plymouth railway line, which has been closed. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Some of Wales' coastal towns 'face being abandoned'

Coastal communities in Wales are being warned they could face being abandoned in future.

Some councils say rising sea levels mean they are too expensive to defend in the long term.

They have told BBC Wales that plans are already in place to retreat.

But Natural Resources Minister Alun Davies said managed retreat was not part of his strategy.

Further north, in the Midlands, the river Severn is in flood