COUNTRY SWEPT BY HEAVY RAINSTORMS. MANY AREAS FLOODED.

CROPS SERIOUSLY DAMAGED.

Last month was one of the wettest Julys on record. This month is bidding fair to set up a similar unenviable record for August. It would be necessary to go back many years to find an August Bank Holiday when so much rain has fallen. Reports from all parts of the kingdom mention heavy falls during the forty-eight hours from Sunday. Indeed, in some districts the fall is spoken of as torrential. Many districts are heavily flooded. In some cases the rain was accompanied by a high wind, and at Slough heavy branches were torn from trees and slates ripped off the roofs. Serious damage to corn crops is reported over a very wide area, and if the wet weather continues, harvesting operations will be seriously hampered.

In East Riding fine wheat crops were flattened, as if by a roller. At Leicester, the floods were so serious that in the low-lying parts of the town trams and motor-cars were held up. At Melton Mowbray, a torrent ten feet deep swept through the streets, carrying away furniture from the houses. People sought refuge in the bedrooms. Pigs and poultry were drowned, and valuable hunters (horses) were seen swimming in the floods, and rescued only with great difficulty.

In isolated cases was it reported that yesterday morning’s rain was followed by spells of glorious sunshine. In this respect Dover, Brighton, and Margate seem to have been particularly favoured.

In London yesterday the weather was generally unsettled. The morning opened with the threat of rain, and from eleven o’clock for an hour or so there was a particularly heavy downfall. In some districts thunder was experienced. The skies then partially cleared, and in the afternoon the sun shone brilliantly.

Although the heavy rains have undoubtedly marred the holidays of many thousands of people, consolation may be found in the fact that, in the opinion of the water experts and the staff of the Ministry of Health, the recent falls have virtually made good the water shortage which existed as the result of the drought last year. This applies to all areas except those whose supplies are drawn from particularly deep wells, in which cases the water may take months to percolate through the earth. In these areas caution will still need to be exercised.

For to-day, over the South-east of England, light or moderate south-westerly winds, becoming north or north-westerly, are predicted, and although hopes are held out that the day will be “mainly” fair, local showers are anticipated. The temperature will, it is stated, be cooler. The further outlook is, the meteorological experts state, “gradually improving.”