Country deals with aftermath of floods as rain clears

PARTS OF the UK were last night dealing with the aftermath of heavy downpours which caused flooding and road closures in some areas.

The heavy rain had cleared yesterday after torrential downpours on Friday and Saturday.

The Met Office said the worst of the rain is over, with minor showers in parts of Scotland and the north-west of England yesterday.

The heavy rain led to several football matches being cancelled, train delays and flooded roads.

Downpours caused flooding in Northwich, in Cheshire, and the evacuation of the local marina in the early hours of yesterday.

Northwich local Julian Williams said the worst was over now with the floodwaters subsiding.

He said: “The rain was continuous for over 24 hours. We did have something similar happen about two years ago but it wasn’t as bad as this weekend.”

The Environment Agency is working to confirm the river level in Northwich which is believed to have peaked at Hayhurst Bridge yesterday morning when it reached 10ft.

Its previous highest record was on November 7, 2000, when it peaked at 8ft.

As of 4pm yesterday, there were 90 flood warnings across the UK including six in the Cheshire area and 120 flood alerts, three of which were in Cheshire.

The Environment Agency warned river flooding was still possible on Sunday in the parts of the Midlands, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire due to high river levels.

“River levels will remain high over the next few days,” flood duty manager Neil Davies said.

“Our incident rooms will remain open in affected areas and we have deployed temporary flood barriers in Shropshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Cheshire to help keep people and properties safe.”

Libanus, in South Wales, had the highest amount of rain in the country, with 3.8 inches recorded in the 24-hour period to 4pm on Saturday.