ATTA SHIRL

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LAUGHING Shirley Collyer managed to stay upbeat as she was rescued from floods by the emergency services. ★

Shirley, 83, floated away from her home on an inflatable raft in Hereford after the river burst its banks.

THE Government has admitted it cannot “protect everyone” as Storm Dennis sparked the worst flooding in Britain for a generation.

Environment Secretary George Eustice, right, said that flood defences are ultimately hopeless against climate change.

Storm Dennis’s heavy rains and strong winds have battered the country for three days as many areas still deal with the chaos caused by Storm Ciara the week before.

Parts of the UK were buffeted with winds of more than 90mph.

And in some places more than a month’s worth of rain in just 48 hours led to widespread flooding.

Amid growing demands for more help, Mr Eustice said: “We’ll never be able to protect every single household just because of the nature of climate change and the fact that these weather events are becoming more extreme.

“But we’ve done everything that we can do with a significant sum of money, and there’s more to come.” The Environment Agency said more than 400 properties were flooded by Dennis – a figure expected to rise – and another 800 were flooded by Ciara.

At least five people are feared to have died in the storms, including two men in Kent and a woman who was found dead in Worcestershire.

The Met Office issued a recordbreaking 634 flood warnings and alerts, including a red warning for south Wales where the situation was described as “life-threatening”. In some of the