UK weather: flooded communities warned of more heavy rain
A storm is expected to bring further bands of torrential rain to flood-hit communities as it sweeps across Britain.
Forecasters have issued a yellow weather warning as the 75mph storm brings a fresh deluge of rain, up to 50mm (2in) in some places.
A 500 mile-wide jet of cold air from Greenland will bring winter’s “sting in the tail” in one of the wettest Februarys on record in 254 years.
There was a short respite from the more stormy conditions on Sunday afternoon but there were predictions of a fresh wave of bad weather coming in overnight with the number of flood warnings in force in England increased to 86 – spanning an area from Dorset to Carlisle – along with 183 flood alerts.
In Wales, the number of flood warnings in force increased to 14 on Sunday, with 28 alerts with snow expected across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England overnight.
While the extreme weather should settle down over Tuesday and Wednesday – accompanied with a notable dip in temperatures – the Met Office said further heavy rain is expected later in the week.
The bleak outlook follows more than a fortnight of downpours and flooding that started with Storm Ciara, continued with Storm Dennis and then kept going with the storms over the weekend, which – contrary to some reports – have not been named by the Met Office.
As the weather continued to cause misery for many communities, the environment secretary, George Eustice, was forced to defend Boris Johnson’s defiance of calls to visit flood-stricken areas.
Eustice denied the prime minister had not been engaged, adding that they had been in daily conference calls.
“It was agreed that I would make a
visit to look at our preparedness over that weekend,” Eustice said.
He added: “And in a cabinet government it’s not a one-man show, it’s right that on certain operational things such as this that the prime minister will ask one of his cabinet members to lead. I can’t see anything wrong with that.”
Meanwhile, politicians in south Wales appealed directly to the chancellor for help.
In a letter to Rishi Sunak, the group including four MPs described flooding in the Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) area as “a national emergency on our doorsteps”.
The area was one of the hardest hit by the storm with more than 600 households and a similar number of businesses affected.
Dozens of businesses in Pontypridd town centre, visited by the Prince of
Wales on Friday, were “submerged” along with the Treforest industrial estate where 4,000 jobs are based.
The RCT county borough council is facing bills of £30m to repair damaged roads, walls and council properties as well as seven bridges that will have to be rebuilt.
The letter, signed by by Labour MPs Chris Elmore, Chris Bryant, Beth Winter and Alex Davies-Jones, says: “Wales has borne the brunt of the damage and RCT in particular has been hit hardest of all, whilst having the fewer resources.
“We therefore urge you as a matter of urgency to provide specific one-off funding for RCT.”
The letter said charitable donations had reached almost 200,000, with hundreds of people helping those affected by the flooding.
On Sunday, one fundraising appeal by the Welsh actor Michael Sheen for Wales Council for Voluntary Action reached 50,000 in less than four days. More than 1,750 people in 45 countries have donated to the appeal, supporting those near Sheen’s home borough of Neath Port Talbot and beyond.