The UK floods

UK storms: 100mph winds hit in 'almost unparalleled natural crisis'

A man has died apparently trying to clear a fallen tree as hurricane-force winds batter parts of the UK.

BBC,

12 Febraury, 2013

The dead man, believed to be in his 70s, was killed after the tree brought down power cables in Wiltshire.

There are Met Office "red warnings" for wind in north-west England and Wales and 16 severe flood warnings remaining.

Thousands of homes have no power and road and rail links have been badly hit, in what has been called an "almost unparalleled natural crisis".

Wiltshire Police say the dead man, believed to be in his 70s, was killed in Bremhill, a village between Calne and Chippenham,on Wednesday afternoon and may have been electrocuted.

Met Office issued "red warnings" for north-west England and Wales for the first time this winter, meaning there remains a "risk to life" with widespread damage is expected.

The severe flood warnings remain for Berkshire, Surrey and Somerset.

Assistant chief of the defence staff Major General Patrick Sanders, who is coordinating the armed forces response, described the floods as an "almost unparalleled natural crisis".

There are 87,000 homes in Wales without power as a result of the strong winds and military help has been offered to First Minister Carwyn Jones.

In the Republic of Ireland, more than a quarter of a million homes are without power. Counties Cork and Kerry have been worst affected by the high winds.

Elsewhere in the UK, 8,100 homes have no power in south-west England and 10,000 in the West Midlands.

The Met Office said a wind gust of 108mph was recorded at Aberdaron, North Wales - the strongest wind gust on land of the recent storms.

Gusts of 110mph were recorded at sea off the coast of the southern Irish Republic while at Mumbles Head, South Wales, 92mph was recorded. Winds of 96mph winds were recorded at the Needles, off the Isle of Wight.

Electric power cables and trees have been brought down by winds of up to 94mph, blocking roads in Devon and Cornwall.

The Met Office said: "Winds of this strength can cause widespread structural damage, bringing down trees and also leading to loss of power supplies."

They advised people to change travel plans during the storm-force winds.

The advice came as it was announced that the West Coast Main Line was to close at 19:00 GMT due to high winds. Robin Gisby, managing director for network operations at Network Rail, said it would be closed for a couple of hours.

Virgin Trains has advised all passengers not to attempt travel and there are major disruptions for other rail services, with severe delays between Reading and London due to flooding near Maidenhead. Most of its West Coast Main Line services are suspended.

The M6 Thelwall Viaduct has been closed in both directions between junctions 20 and 21 and drivers have been warned by the Highways Agency to expect delays. The M62 was also shut both ways between junction 22 and 23.

BBC forecaster Darren Bett told the News Channel red weather warnings were very rare.

"You usually get one or two per year. It's the highest level of alert - it's very serious, it's life threatening and it means people should take action now. It does not get any worse than that," he says.

The last was issued in January 2013 as heavy snow hit Wales. Before that, the most recent red warning had been issued in January 2012, for wind in Scotland.

Other updates include:

• The QEII bridge at the Dartford crossing in Kent has been closed due to high winds
• About 30 roads have been closed in Shropshire due to fallen trees and floods
• Crewe Station has been evacuated and is closed to trains after nearby power lines were felled by winds
• A tree fell between junction 15 and 16 on the M6 - no one was injured
• Shannon airport in County Clare in the Republic of Ireland has also been shut because of strong wind and an empty aircraft at the airport was tipped over onto its wing
• Greater Manchester Fire has asked all officers off work to come in to respond to the high number of calls
• BBC forecasters say a month's worth of rainfall is expected to fall in parts of southern England over the next few days
• The Environment Agency warns more homes will be flooded as rivers in Herefordshire and Worcestershire continue rising
• The Thames is set to rise to its highest levels for more than 60 years said the agency, with Windsor, Maidenhead and Surrey the worst affected
• The latest maps showing how the UK is being affected can be found here. The prime minister chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee on the flood crisis on Wednesday morning and a second meeting in Whitehall in the evening.
• Manchester City's Barclays Premier League clash with Sunderland has been postponed because conditions are deemed "unsafe".
• Everton's match with Crystal Palace has also been called off, just 35 minutes before kick-off, due to "building damage which has led to safety concerns".
• All Blackpool trams have been cancelled following concerns about overhead power cables.

About 30 roads have been closed in Shropshire due to fallen trees and floods

Crewe Station has been evacuated and is closed to trains after nearby power lines were felled by winds

A tree fell between junction 15 and 16 on the M6 - no one was injured

Shannon airport in County Clare in the Republic of Ireland has also been shut because of strong wind and an empty aircraft at the airport was tipped over onto its wing

Greater Manchester Fire has asked all officers off work to come in to respond to the high number of calls

BBC forecasters say a month's worth of rainfall is expected to fall in parts of southern England over the next few days

The Environment Agency warns more homes will be flooded as rivers in Herefordshire and Worcestershire continue rising

The Thames is set to rise to its highest levels for more than 60 years said the agency, with Windsor, Maidenhead and Surrey the worst affected

The latest maps showing how the UK is being affected can be found here. The prime minister chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee on the flood crisis on Wednesday morning and a second meeting in Whitehall in the evening.

Manchester City's Barclays Premier League clash with Sunderland has been postponed because conditions are deemed "unsafe".

Everton's match with Crystal Palace has also been called off, just 35 minutes before kick-off, due to "building damage which has led to safety concerns".

All Blackpool trams have been cancelled following concerns about overhead power cables.

In the Commons, he repeated his pledge that "money is no object in this relief effort" as he unveiled a package of measures to help businesses and homeowners repairing flood-damaged property.

Environment Agency chief executive Paul Leinster told the committee that water levels could rise to "higher than current levels" over the weekend, with particular concerns about the Thames between Oxford to Maidenhead and also below Maidenhead.

'Unprecedented' flooding

More than 1,000 homes have been evacuated along the Thames after towns and villages including Wraysbury, Chertsey and Datchet were flooded.

In the driving rain, battered by the gale force winds whipping up waves on the inland sea that's now the Somerset Levels, residents and volunteers load wood chips onto wheelbarrows to lay on the banks of the River Parrett.

A hunched convoy of people wearing high-vis jackets shuttles up and down the muddy path, trying to keep a walkway open between cut-off communities.

Fighting back the tears, one woman told me she had to get out of her house and do something - anything - to take her mind off the relentless flooding and the sight of the lake at her back door.

There are no familiar landmarks and no sign of an end in sight. After weeks of living on a waterlogged land, the emotional impact is really beginning to show.

Chief Supt Matt Twist, of Surrey Police, said the flooding in the county was "unprecedented" and warned that a further 2,500 homes were at risk.

An 85-year-old resident forced to leave her bungalow in one Surrey village spent the night at an evacuation centre.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was a "terrible experience". "I want to go, I want to get out of it [community evacuation centre] really, because you can't live like this, can you?

"I know everybody's in the same boat but I can't go back home."

Further evacuations have been taking place in the Staines and Egham area. Almost 6,000 properties have been flooded altogether in the past two months.

About 100 properties remain flooded on the Somerset Levels, where extra pumps are being brought in from the Netherlands, and groundwater flooding is also expected in the coming days in Hampshire, Kent and parts of London.

As well as 16 severe flood warnings, the Environment Agency has also issued about 400 less serious flood warnings and alerts, mostly in southern England and the Midlands.

The agency said it looked "increasingly likely" there would be problems along the River Severn and River Wye.

And it said groundwater levels were so high in some parts of the country that flooding was likely to persist for weeks or even months flooding was likely to persist for weeks or even months.

Two days ago I sent an email to Radio NZ asking when they were ever going to cover the ongoing and devastating floods in Britain. The next morning, as if in response, they gave extensive coverage. (I have no doubt this was a complete coincidence!)

This morning, in the wee hours the announcer mentioned the Jet Stream and “we're all in this together”. Perhaps the night announcer is not subject to as much scrutiny!

Here is some up-to-date coverage from Radio NZ.

Soldiers called to help flood devastated UK village

Currently, 16 severe flood warnings remain for Berkshire, Surrey and Somerset in the South of England, with a 'blame game' developing over whether flood warning and protection systems have been adequate.

And in Ireland

Roof Torn Off Limerick Building