More residents evacuated amid flooding in northern England

The auto parks and grounds at St Catherine’s Hospice in Lostock Hall were flooded after the River Lostock burst its banks.

The low pressure will see winds strengthening from the west, bringing in gales, and some very severe gales to the far north-west of Scotland, with the Met Office issuing a yellow wind warning from 3pm until 11.45pm on Tuesday across parts of western and northern Scotland, including Orkney but not Shetland, and stretching down through Dumfries and Galloway and across towards Northern Ireland.

One of the worst-affected towns was Whalley, in east Lancashire.

Hundreds of flood alerts and warnings are in place for England, Wales and Scotland, including more than 30 severe warnings – indicating danger to life.

And hundreds were left without power in Padiham due to widespread flooding.

Authorities issued some 335 flood alerts in all.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss called a meeting of the government’s COBRA emergency committee yesterday as the problem worsened.

“The government must get its priorities right and make protecting the homes and businesses of hundreds of thousands of people from flooding an absolute priority”.

“My thoughts are with people whose homes have been flooded”.

Soldiers were mobilised this morning to join emergency services and mountain rescue teams as they help people from their homes and bolster defences with sand bags, while more than 20 roads across the city were closed after being flooded.

The insured losses from the 2015 flooding could exceed £1bn in the aftermath of storm Eva, endangering some firm’s end of year results, an industry expert has warned. It doesn’t mean “come and have a look”.

Residents in Whalley and Ribchester in Lancashire were forced to abandon homes when flood waters poured through the streets.

Some towns were essentially cut off as flood waters submerged all routes in.

Roads affected by flooding include the A646 running along the River Calder, the A629 from Halifax and the A61 at Harewood Bridge.

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images A canal boat collides with a rubbish bin as floodwaters rise after rivers burst their banks on December 26, 2015 in Hebden Bridge, England.

A lack of available sandbags was a cause of concern as the emergency services and the army worked tirelessly at the scene.

Police continue to work closely with partners to help people stay safe in what has been the worst flooding in West Yorkshire in 70 years. She said it was too risky to leave either on foot or in a vehicle. “With no electricity we will have to move out”. “More troops are being deployed as part of a plan to do whatever is needed”, Cameron wrote on Twitter after the COBRA call to discuss what he said was “unprecedented” flooding.

“Certainly what we’ve seen is rainfall levels that nobody’s ever seen before”, Floods Minister Rory Stewart told BBC Radio.

A Number 10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister praised the work of the emergency services in dealing with this unprecedented event, but recognised this was an incredibly serious situation which had led to some very serious flooding”.

“Flood defences are not something that the government can palm off on charities and communities, like many other aspects of life in Britain today”.