Britain’s flood-warning tally a record
Death toll from storm, aftermath up to three
LONDON — Britain issued severe flood warnings Monday, advising of life-threatening danger after Storm Dennis dumped weeks’ worth of rain in some places. A woman was found dead after being swept away by the floodwaters, the storm’s third confirmed victim.
To the east, Dennis’ gale-force winds also left nine people injured in Germany as their vehicles crashed into broken trees littering roads and train tracks. Flooding and power outages were reported elsewhere in northern Europe.
By Monday evening, Britain’s Environment Agency issued seven severe flood warnings in the central English counties of Herefordshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire. Another 200 lower-level flood warnings were also in place, meaning that flooding was expected.
Some 480 flood warnings and alerts were issued across England on Monday, the highest number on record, the agency said.
The storm’s confirmed death toll rose to three as West Mercia Police said a body had been found in the search for a 55-year-old woman who had been missing near Tenbury in Worcestershire since Sunday.
A man pulled from the water in the same incident was airlifted to a hospital, where he remains in stable condition, police said.
The weather system brought winds of more than 90 mph and up to 6 inches of rain to Britain over the weekend. And the tumult is not over.
“We expect disruptive weather into the middle of this week, bringing a significant flood risk for the West Midlands, and there are flood warnings in place across much of England,” said Toby Willison, executive director of operations at Britain’s Environment Agency.
Forecasters said river levels in parts of northern England had yet to reach their peak. In the northern England city of York, authorities were piling up more than 4,000 sandbags as the Rover Ouse continued to rise. It was expected to peak on Tuesday.
In Germany, at least nine people were injured in weather-related car accidents as high winds brought trees down onto roads and train tracks. A commuter train with 67 passengers also crashed into a fallen tree in the western German city of Dortmund, but nobody was injured.