WEATHER CHAOS AFTER THE FLOODS... NOW THE SNOW
THE Army was on standby last night to send in more troops to combat flooding.
Another 48 hours of torrential downpours are predicted in areas where hundreds of homes are already under water.
Elsewhere, families in Exmoor and Dartmoor awoke blanketed in snow yesterday. Temperatures plummeted across parts of Devon and South Wales, with snowfalls as far east asWiltshire.
Around 200 soldiers have already moved in to help beleaguered residents in South Yorkshire whose homes have now been flooded for a week.
Looters
Yesterday they were piling sandbags outside homes in the villages of Fishlake and Bentley near Doncaster as more rain fell throughout the day.
Even where water levels had receded people were starting to try and salvage belongings from their homes and businesses amid fears looters could descend.
Rumours spread of thieves with boats striking overnight at affluent abandoned homes in Fishlake although South Yorkshire Police said they had no reports of any break-ins. The Environment
Agency warned further wet weather over the next two days could bring “severe” flooding to areas already affected by rising waters.
Across England 92 flood warnings were in place last night, as well as 161 flood alerts.
The Oxfordshire village of Wendlebury, near Bicester, flooded after the nearby Wendlebury brook burst its banks.
People living near the brook were urged to move their belongings “upstairs if at all possible”.
Traffic ground to a halt and buses had to be diverted as Nottingham city centre was hit by flash-flooding and drains failed to cope with the deluge.
In Worcestershire, West Mercia Police said sections of the A448 Kidderminster Road in Bromsgrove were “completely
impassable”. Oxfordshire County Council said firefighters have rescued “a number of people” from vehicles stuck in floodwater.
The Met Office said there would be a danger to life in parts of the East Midlands and Yorkshire as further downpours hit.
A yellow weather warning for rain was in place for areas around Nottingham, Sheffield and Doncaster last night. Another yellow weather alert for “widespread” rain was in place for parts of Wales, South-west England and theWest Midlands.
Snowfalls in Devon and South Wales prompted police in Powys to warn people to only travel if necessary after several vehicles got stuck in drifts.
The Environment Agency said since flooding began last Thursday, around 14,400 properties had been protected by flood defences, including 5,000 in South Yorkshire.
A total of 38 pumps are on site in South Yorkshire to remove 50 million litres of water per hour to protect homes and businesses, the agency added.
Pumps set up around the village of Fishlake have removed 1.25 million tons of water in the past 24 hours, it said.
But the agency has urged communities to check for more flood warnings amid fears that worse is to come.
Kate Marks, the Environment Agency’s flood duty manager, said that heavy rain is expected to cause river and surface water flooding today.
She said this will “potentially contribute to flood impacts in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire”.