Major rivers in England burst their banks after heavy rain on Friday, authorities have issued more than 300 flood warnings, travel operators have reported severe disruption and so far around a thousand homes have been damaged. Nick Lupton, from Worcestershire, lived in a flood zone next to the River Severn but built a flood wall around his house to keep his house safe and dry.
Lupton's story of ordering security barriers on his own initiative succeeds. A resident of this rural part of England explained to the BBC that since 2016 it has flooded eleven times and is looking for a solution.
In a succession of storms in recent weeks, Thursday's rain fell on soil that was already highly saturated, meaning it had little absorbent capacity. It overflowed rivers and aquifers across England and Wales that were already in high flow. For example, this happened in the River Trent, the third largest river in the United Kingdom, leading local authorities to declare a serious incident.
“In November and December, after the storm Babette And the storm Ciaran, throughout the country, especially in the east, the soil is incredibly saturated. It increased in the run-up to Christmas and this week's rain has saturated it even more, so there's nowhere else for the water to go,” said Caroline Douglas, the Environment Agency's director of flood management. Reports to the BBC.
Officials have said that about a thousand houses have been flooded so far. Around 50 people had to be evacuated on Thursday night after a canal overflowed in the east of the capital, the London Fire Service said.
According to a British newspaper, the floods have severely affected train services in the west of England Guardian, parts of the main line to Wales were closed. With many routes closed and connections cancelled, the two railway companies have asked passengers to check available information before travelling. Railway Company good Western said lines were closed in three areas in the south of the country. Roads in the worst affected areas were also closed.
And rain and wind are coming
The storm has brought heavy rain to parts of Britain since Tuesday Henk, Landslides and fallen trees. And the weather forecast for the next few days isn't pretty: more rain and wind is coming to the UK.
The Met Office, the British weather service, has rated it as a storm Henk Next Tuesday, January 9, winds of up to 128 kilometers per hour will hit much of southern England and Wales. More rain is expected this Friday, although not with the same intensity as seen the night before.
The damage and disruption caused by the floods led the British Labor Party (Labour) to accuse the government led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of negligence in flood management and prevention.
“Rishi Sunak is asleep at the wheel and must act now or risk further damage to lives and livelihoods,” said a joint statement by two labor members. “This is not about extra money. It is about ensuring the budget already allocated to flood protection is used to maximum efficiency. If this does not happen, homes across the country will be exposed,” he was quoted as saying. The Guardian.
Thousands of hectares of plantations and productive land were flooded by Cyclone Henk. BBC. Flood-affected farmers are calling on the government to invest more in protecting rural rivers to protect the UK's food production. A government spokesman said 221 million pounds (about 256 million euros) was spent on maintaining flood defenses this year and last year.
Even storms caused Flooding in other parts of Europe in recent days.
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