Schoolgirl is killed by car crossing road
Sweltering heat coupled with thunder & floods
LEGACY Ruby Cropper
A “KIND and caring” 11-year-old girl has died after she was hit by a car while crossing the road.
Ruby Cropper was walking with a friend at about 4.30pm on Monday when she was in a collision with a Suzuki Alto.
Greater Manchester Police said the driver left the scene in Bury but a 35-year-old man contacted police and was arrested. Ruby died in hospital.
In a statement released by police, Ruby’s family said: “Ruby was such a kind and caring person and always helped others. She has continued to do this in organ donation.
“Ruby’s legacy will live on and we have taken great comfort in this.
“We are all absolutely devastated and a part of us has died too.”
BRITAIN sweltered again yesterday on a sixth consecutive day of 34C heat – something which has not occurred since 1961.
Flooding and thunderstorms hit some parts of the country as a top temperature of 34.6C baked Central London.
Yellow thunder warnings from the Met Office will be in place for much of the UK until Monday, with a risk of impacts from heavy rain, flash flooding, lightning and hail.
Heavy rain could cause more flooding in “mostly urban areas” of England until Friday, the Environment Agency said.
Days of scorching temperatures led to a dried out field bursting into flames in Horsham, West Sussex.
Sunseekers in Clevedon, Somerset, headed to the town’s marine lake in droves to cool off. But motorists found themselves marooned in the street in Aberdeen after morning thunderstorms caused flash flooding.
Residents were pelted with large hailstones which cascaded down on Twickenham, West London, during a brief break from long spells of sunshine.
Nick Delves, assistant head gardener at the National Trust’s Nymans gardens in West Sussex, was hoping forecasts of rain came true to water his plants.
The Environment Agency reported rainfall caused the Burrow Beck waterway in Scotforth, Lancaster, to rise nearly a metre in less than three hours.
And Alton Towers said yesterday an overnight electrical storm had led to the water supply being interrupted.
The Staffordshire theme park asked visitors to stay away and said their tickets would be honoured another time.
It comes as scientists from around the world confirmed the last decade was the warmest on record since the Industrial Revolution, providing further evidence of how quickly the planet is warming.
For the 32nd consecutive year, mass was lost from global mountain glaciers in 2019 and there were “exceptional wildfire events” in Australia, the Amazon, Indonesia and parts of Siberia, on top of heatwaves, floods and other extreme weather.
Each decade since 1980 has also been successively warmer than the preceding one, with 2010 to 2019 being around 0.2C hotter than 2000 to 2009.
In fact, 2019 was among the three warmest years since records began in the 1800s with only 2016 and 2015 – in some datasets – hotter. The 30th bulletin of the American Meteorological Society also found that every year after 2013 has been warmer than any since the mid1800s. The report said lake temperatures, important for spawning fish and other aquatic life, were above average and permafrost temperatures kept rising.
When thawed they release greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and the more lethal methane.
Albert Klein-Tank, director of the Met Office’s Hadley Centre, said: “The next 30 years are going to be extremely challenging as we use the evidence of climate science and observations to help humanity solve the climate crisis.”
ALBERT KLEIN-TANK MET OFFICE WEATHER EXPERT
The next 30 years are going to be extremely challenging for climate