BARRIERS BUCKLE IN FLOODS
Families flee as defences fail – and record rains keep on coming
DESPERATE residents fled their inundated homes yesterday after flood barriers buckled.
Raging rivers, swollen by unprecedented rainfall, flooded several more towns. After a dramatic 24 hours, and with further downpours forecast, many flood victims were left asking: ‘Will this misery ever end?’
In Snaith, in East Yorkshire, residents were helped to safety on Tuesday night when the Aire burst its banks.
Then early yesterday, homes in Bewdley, Worcestershire, were evacuated when water started pouring over the top of temporary defences.
Families and the elderly were rescued by boat. Others were seen being helped out of windows as the speed of the flood took everyone by surprise.
Hours later, 20 miles further north, residents in Ironbridge, Shropshire, heard a loud bang followed by a gushing sound as emergency flood defences that had held out for a week finally gave way under the sheer weight of water from the Severn.
Police went house to house urging anyone who had remained in the Wharfage area of the town to get out.
The Environment Agency warned it was possible that floods there could reach 6ft deep. In one riverside cottage, Elizabeth Maiden, 88, said: ‘I’ve lived here for 80 years and it was worse than this in 1947 and 2000. Do I want to be evacuated? No. Where would I go? I can’t see any point in leaving.’
In Bewdley, the fast-flowing Severn
breached temporary defences on one bank, while on the other the 8ft-high £11million barriers installed after previous floods held firm. GP David Hegarty, 53, who fled his 17th century cottage with his wife and two children, returned yesterday afternoon to retrieve some belongings and found the ground floor under 2ft of water.
‘We knew two days ago that the inevitable was going to happen,’ he said. ‘We put all our valuables upstairs but all things like sofas and the floors will be ruined. We live by a river and you’ve got to expect some flooding, but not like this.’
Two severe flood warnings – meaning there is a risk to life – remained in place last night, at Ironbridge and in Shrewsbury.
There were a further 96 flood warnings stretching from and 135 the Lake flood District alerts to the South Coast. The severe flooding across the country follows record rainfall for February, and further downpours are forecast.
But first, snow is set to cause disruption this morning, with up to two inches predicted and even in parts of the South affected.
The Met Office warned of falls on high Cotswolds ground and as Chilterns. far south Rain as will the return tomorrow, with up to 2.5in forecast in less than 24 hours and weather warnings for central Wales – the source of the Severn and Wye rivers – and the Pennines. Further flooding is predicted. Farmers will be paid to sacrifice their farmland when rivers flood, Environment Secretary George
Eustice announced yesterday. Allowing fields to act as natural defences would protect homes, he said.
Other measures would include planting more trees, restoring peat bogs and reintroducing beavers to create natural dams.
He said that natural defences would be key as climate change leads to increased flooding. But he rejected calls for a public inquiry into Government handling of the floods.
And he defended Boris Johnson against criticism over his failure to visit flood-hit communities.
The Prime Minister’s presence on the ground would not have had made any difference to the response to the crisis, Mr Eustice said.
The chief executive of Shropshire Council has quit in the middle of the flooding crisis after the ruling Conservative group voted for him to resign.
Clive Wright stepped down on Wednesday. Sources said the response to the floods was among the reasons.