UK

Heavy downpours in England cause more than 1,000 properties to flood

Environment Agency expects ‘significant river flooding impacts’ across parts of the midlands this weekend

People walk through a flooded street in Worcester city centre. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Fri Jan 5 2024 - 17:25

More than 1,000 properties across England have flooded amid heavy downpours this week, as temperatures look set to plummet at the weekend.

Hundreds of flood warnings and alerts remained in place on Friday, with the UK Health Security Agency issuing a cold weather alert from Saturday.

The Environment Agency said “significant river flooding impacts” were expected on Friday and Saturday across parts of the midlands on the River Trent and in Gloucester.

It said areas of the southwest on the River Avon would also be affected, adding that ongoing impacts were likely across much of England over the next five days because the ground was “completely saturated”.

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Data from the Environment Agency shows almost every river in England to be exceptionally high with some rivers reaching their highest flow on record, such as the River Itchen in Southampton which saw a flow double its previous record in December.

Caroline Douglass, the agency’s flood director, said the River Trent had been at “some of the highest levels we’ve seen in 24 years”.

Stefan Laeger, flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said flood impacts were expected to continue in parts of England over the next five days despite a change to drier weather, as “rivers and groundwater levels remain high”.

South Western Railway services were disrupted on Friday across its entire network, with major issues on its west of England routes, while Great Western Railway warned there was “significant disruption” to its services.

Flooding closed the railway between Swindon and Bristol Parkway and between Reading and Taunton.

Nottinghamshire County Council declared a major incident on Thursday due to rising levels along the River Trent and several residents of Radcliffe Residential Park, an estate of static caravans for the over-55s just to the east of the city, were evacuated.

Parts of southern England including Gloucestershire were submerged – with some riverside areas of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire also under water on Friday.

In East London, about 50 people were led to safety by firefighters overnight after a canal burst its banks in Hackney Wick, causing flooding in an area of about 10 acres.

A fine artist with a studio in Hackney Wick, Erin Lawlor (54) said she had to wade into water to save her belongings after knee-high water flooded the area around the building.

The highest rainfall totals recorded on Thursday were 35.2mm at Otterbourne in Hampshire, with a wide range of 20-30mm across much of the southern counties of England.

Labour accused the Conservative government of being “asleep at the wheel” over flood warnings. It called on prime minister Rishi Sunak to convene a “Cobra-style taskforce” to protect homes from further damage.

The Liberal Democrats said Mr Sunak should visit areas impacted by flooding.

The period between July and December last year was the wettest on record dating back to 1890, according to the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.

Since September, the start of the storm year, there have been eight named storms to hit the UK, the highest number in a season to be named by the UK Met Office since it began naming them in 2015. This has turned the country into what hydrologist Prof Hannah Cloke, from the University of Reading, described as a “sopping wet sponge”. – PA

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