People watch the sun rise on Christmas Day on the beach at Tynemouth.
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Both men later retracted their confessions, saying they had been coerced by the police. Miss Witheridge and Mr Miller met on Koh Tao while staying at the same hotel.
This morning there is a red flood warning from the Environment Agency in place for Keswick Campsite while yellow warnings – the lowest level of alert – cover the Rivers Cocker, Marron and Derwent; the Upper River Derwent, Stonethwaite Beck and Derwent Water; Rivers Greta, St John’s Beck and Bassenthwaite Lake; and Rivers Lowther and Eamont.
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The bad weather is also due to hit – or has hit – the states of Kentucky, Alabama, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Alabama. There were four confirmed tornadoes, including two in Wayne County, that touched down and caused damage during the storms.
Another deluge of up to six inches of rain is expected in Cumbria which already suffered the wettest December since records began in 1910.
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A multi-agency Strategic Coordination Group has been set up to combat the expected flooding.
Sir James Bevan, chief executive of the Environment Agency, said the agency will review recent events with communities to improve its response in future.
The Met Office has issued an amber warning for rain – meaning “be prepared” – for Cumbria and a large part of Lancashire on Saturday.
Demountable barriers are being deployed at Warwick Bridge and Braithwaite, near Kewswick.
We have over 700 Environment Agency staff ready to respond.
Paul Mustow, Deputy Director in Flood and Coastal Risk Management at the Environment Agency, said: Our thoughts are with all those who have had their homes and businesses flooded, some several times, in the run up to Christmas. “Driving through flood water is extremely risky as you can not determine the depth, please do not risk this”.
Around 50-80mm is due to fall this morning, with more than 100mm (4in) likely to come down over higher ground across the day. That’s falling on ground that’s very saturated.
Emergency services are advising more than 500 residents to evacuate their properties as Lancashire takes a Boxing Day battering from the weather. More than 85 per cent of the country’s temporary flood barriers are now deployed in the area.
“More than 20 extra pumps are in the north of England, four of these are high volume pumps capable of moving one metric tonne of water per second”.
The English region has already been hit by flooding three times already this month.
“Today I chaired a meeting of the Government’s COBR committee to ensure every resource available is being deployed in the right place”.
“Certainly what we’ve seen is rainfall levels that nobody’s ever seen before”.
Armed forces have been called in and hundreds of Environment Agency (EA) staff are on stand-by to bolster flood defences as more sandbags and water pumps are rushed to Cumbria.
Teams of workers from the agency have also been out checking and maintaining flood defences, clearing blockages in watercourses and monitoring water levels.
“This has been a very hard time for all involved, especially people flooded out of their homes at Christmas for which I have enormous sympathy”, Ms Truss said after the Cobra meeting.
Floods Minister Rory Stewart said that rainfall levels in the flood-hit areas were unprecedented.
“I would like to pay tribute to the tireless work of frontline staff over the last month and the resilience of those communities affected, which I have seen first hand”.
Beleaguered residents in some towns were told to abandon their homes for higher ground while others were told to move their valuables and listen to advice from emergency services about possible evacuation.
Residents in Ribchester and Whalley are being taken to a rest centre at Longridge Civic Hall, Willow Park, Calder Avenue, Longridge.
The Government has also warned that there could be flooding in Wales, Herefordshire and Shropshire over the festive period.
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Electricity North West is also making preparations ahead of the predicted severe weather.
