Troops battle floods
World snapshot
HUNDREDS of troops have been sent to northern England to help exhausted residents and emergency workers fight back rising river waters that have inundated towns and cities after weeks of heavy rain.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the flooding is “unprecedented” and vowed to do everything possible to protect people and their property as the damage spread to the major cities of York, Leeds and Manchester.
He said protective systems and contingency plans will be reviewed because the frequency of such extreme weather events seems to be on the rise.
Weeks of persistent rainfall has saturated the ground and swollen the rivers to record levels, leaving entire swathes of northern England, and smaller parts of Wales and Scotland, vulnerable. Several hundred flood warnings remain in effect.
There have been no fatalities or serious injuries reported, but hundreds of people have been evacuated from houses and apartments in York, 320km north of London, where 3500 properties judged to be at risk.
Emergency crews worked extra shifts to try to restore power to roughly 7500 blacked out homes in the Greater Manchester
are and Lancashire areas.
Environment Secretary Liz Truss said flood protection systems put in place in recent years were unable to cope with the record-high river levels.
“In Lancashire every single river was at a record-high,” she said. “In Yorkshire we have seen some rivers a metre higher than they have ever been before. Clearly, in the light of that, we will be reviewing our flood defences.”
The Environment Agency urged residents to remain vigilant because more “severe” flooding is expected.