THE 48-HOUR CLOBBERING BY CIARA
Two men die on second day of storm – amid fury at failure of flood defences
TWO people were killed as the ‘storm of the century’ continued to lash Britain yesterday.
A 58-year- old motorist was killed when a tree fell on his car, and a pensioner died after falling in icy conditions in Scotland.
The deaths came as furious residents of towns hit by flooding for the second time in five years slammed the failure of flood defences.
Temporary barriers in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, made the flooding worse by diverting water from the raging River Calder on to the road and into dozens of homes and businesses. Local anger was directed at the Government and bureaucrats for their failure to even start work on a £20 million flood alleviation scheme.
Paul Fazackerley, 37, said: ‘This shouldn’t have happened. We feel there should be some liability on the Environment Agency for the damage, they should take some responsibility for this.’ Philip Davies, the Tory MP for Shipley, told the Commons that it was ‘ completely unacceptable’ that so many people flooded in 2015 had been hit again.
Storm Ciara brought 97mph winds and up to seven inches of rain on Sunday. Yesterday, winds gusted at up to 89mph at Portland, Dorset, and reached speeds of 60mph across southern England.
Further north, snow brought hazardous driving conditions in the Pennines and the Midlands, including Derbyshire, Shropshire and
Staffordshire, and heavy showers brought up to half an inch of rain.
A 58-year-old man died after his car was hit by a tree on the A33 between Winchester and Micheldever, at about 4pm on Sunday as winds in the area reached 60 mph. The man has not been named.
A 77-year- old man died after a fall in frozen conditions brought by Ciara – dubbed the storm of the century by the Met Office – in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, yesterday morning.
A lorry was blown over on the M48 Severn Bridge following a ‘sudden spike’ in winds at 11.45am yesterday. The HGV ended up in a precarious position on its side near the edge of the bridge.
Police said the driver received treatment for minor head injuries. Highways England said the bridge remained closed ‘for some time’ because it could not recover the lorry until ‘wind speeds reduce’.
In Brentwood, Essex, a sinkhole opened up on a suburban street, partially swallowing a Toyota car. Six homes were evacuated following the incident at 1.30am yesterday. The driver is said to have escaped uninjured.
A lifeboat almost capsized when it was sent to rescue a surfer reported missing in the Channel on Sunday. The six-man crew spent almost five hours at sea among waves ‘several metres’ high. The surfer was eventually rescued by a Coastguard vessel.
Today, parts of northern England including the Pennines and Cumbria were expected to wake up to several inches of snow. Snow showers are also forecast through today and until noon tomorrow on the hills of northern England.
Elsewhere, showers are predicted, mostly in western areas, and it will remain windy with gusts of 40 to 50mph around western and southern coasts.
‘Waves several metres high’