NEW FLOOD WARNINGS FOR WALES
PARTS of Wales are likely to be hit by flooding just weeks after Storm Dennis devastated areas of the country, according to the Met Office.
An amber weather warning has now been put in place for parts of mid and north-west Wales, while areas which experienced flooding in February were due up to 100mm of rainfall overnight and into today.
Yesterday, the Met Office issued a “potential threat to life” warning to areas including Builth Wells and Newtown in mid Wales, warning of power cuts, fast flowing floodwater and damage to homes and businesses.
The weather service’s website said the warning was in place from 6pm yesterday to 10am today. It comes after the wettest February on record after storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge battered the UK. Wales was the UK’s wettest region last month, with 288.4mm of rain falling.
A yellow weather warning, a grade below amber, is in place for areas of south, west, mid, and north Wales, including areas recently flooded during Storm Dennis. The warning, in place from 3pm yesterday until 12pm today, also warns that homes and businesses “could be flooded”.
Forecasters also said communities could be cut off by floods, roads could close and “power cuts and loss of other services to some homes and businesses are likely”.
Meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said: “The ground is already saturated and with all the rainfall we have had over recent weeks, it is likely to lead to further flooding in places.”
A similar warning is in place for the north of England, including the cities of Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield and Huddersfield, with a projected 50mm of rain – a little under half the monthly average for March – due to fall.
While there are no weather warnings in place for the later half of the week, there will be widespread showers, meaning floodhit areas will get little respite.
On Sunday, Boris Johnson was heckled when he visited the town of Bewdley in Worcestershire on the River Severn which saw some of the worst flooding in the country in February.
The Prime Minister has been heavily criticised for failing to visit flood-hit communities during the crises. Some onlookers shouted “traitor” as he looked at the flood defences.
He said during the visit it was “too easy” for a PM to “come to a place in a middle of an emergency”, but that it was “not so easy, frankly, for the emergency services”. “What they have to do is then break off and gold command has to find somewhere to brief you, everybody has to gather. They’re diverting from their work for hours and hours,” he said. What I’ve been doing since the flooding began is coordinating the national response but also looking at what we can do in the next months and years to ensure this country really is ready to cope with the impacts of flooding.”