Emergency services have declared a major incident because of severe weather that’s caused flooding across Cumbria – forcing home evacuations and travel chaos.
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Across parts of northern England and Scotland, up to 250-300mm of rain is expected to fall in isolated areas.
Major routes in Scotland including stretches of the M8, A82 and M90 had to be closed, while many other roads were affected by flooding.
Thousands of passengers were left stranded over the past two days. Military forces have been called in to help evacuate people who wish to move, including elderly people, pets and families with babies.
The area worst affected in England was Cumbria, where British Red Cross teams set up rest centres in Keswick, Appleby and Kendal, and a call for doctors was issued.
Keswick’s new flood defences have failed, with water from the River Greta spilling over the top of the walls. “We have had 24 hours of constant rain”.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes and more than 60,000 houses have been left without power.
“It is hard to assess the scale of the need but we know that the flooding will cause significant financial hardship and emotional distress”.
“We are advising motorists to slow down when driving through floodwaters on public roads for safety reasons and to minimise the impact on adjacent properties, particularly in urban locations”. Just got in at 0130 spent night bailing out a neighbour. No injuries were reported.
There had been a yellow alert for rain and wind across Northern Ireland issued by the Met Office which ended early on Sunday morning.
Scottish Environment Minister Aileen McLeod said the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland were closely monitoring the situation.
The Environment Agency also said about 200 properties had been flooded, with military personnel also brought in to help deal with flooding in Carlisle.
In Eamont Bridge, south of Penrith in Cumbria, 150 people were rescued by the Coastguard from a flooded static caravan park.
“Given saturated conditions and high river levels from recent rainfall, further flooding is expected”.
There are scores of severe flood warnings in England and southwest Scotland, and the BBC noted that warnings in the “severe” category means there might be a danger to life.
Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s Flood Rescue Team and the Red Cross are also being deployed.
The Scottish Borders have also been severely affected, with mountain rescue teams there helping evacuate residents from areas at risk.
A city centre street in Glasgow was also cordoned off for a time yesterday afternoon after parts of a cinema roof were blown off, narrowly missing cars and pedestrians.
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The Coastguard Rescue Helicopter from Caernarfon rescued four people who had found themselves cut off on the wrong side of a landslide after heavy rainfall at Thirlmere Reservoir.
