‘Severe’ flood warnings in parts of UK as Army helps

Homes were evacuated, cars were submerged and boats were brought in to help bring people to safety Saturday as parts of England, Scotland and Wales faced severe flooding caused by repeated heavy rains.

The most severe warnings remain in place in Ribchester and other parts of the Ribble Valley and St Michaels in Wyre, following the issue of Severe Flood Warnings by the Environment Agency which indicate potential risk to life.

Whole roads are completled underwater in Croston, while residents around Lancaster and North Lancashire are still reeling from the flooding carnage that hit the area earlier this month.

He stated in some areas, a month’s value of rain might fall in at some point on ground already saturated from earlier rains.

There were more than 335 additional flood alerts for other parts of England, Scotland and Wales.

The Government’s emergency Cobra committee met on Christmas Day to discuss the flooding.

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Environment Minister Rory Stewart called the rainfall in the flooded areas unprecedented.

The EA issued dozens of flood warnings to broad swathes of the country throughout Christmas Day, instructing locals to be prepared to take “immediate action”.

Seven severe warnings, meaning widespread flooding is expected, have been issued for locations on the River Ribble at Ribchester, the River Wyre at St Michael’s North and St Michael’s South, and the River Calder at Whalley, where people are already being evacuated.

Police have reportedly issued red weather warnings for rain in the two counties. Pendle Water, Pimlico Brook, the Burrow and Hellifield Beck were also at risk of bursting their banks, the EA warned.

“It is the intensity of this rainfall, on already saturated ground that has sparked the issuing of the Met Office’s most severe warning”.

A coast guard helicopter over Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, where flood sirens were sounded after torrential downpours.. “As the rain falls, the rivers respond very quickly”, he told BBC Radio 4.

“If somebody had said two years ago when we were designing these flood defences that we could get 13 inches of rain in a day, the answer from the engineers would have been ‘Why are you making that kind of prediction?”

Police are also warning motorists not to drive unless it is “absolutely necessary”.

Speaking after a second multi-agency strategy meeting in Greater Manchester, Assistant Chief Constable John O’Hare said: “We are continuing to work closely with our partner agencies to identify the greatest areas of risk and to provide the best possible response”.

“Certainly what we’ve seen is rainfall levels that nobody’s ever seen before”. Services have also been affected on Bute and the Isle of Lewis.

A man wades through flood waters at Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire..