Heavy and persistent overnight rain has led to around 90 properties being flooded in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Suffolk, with many more properties being protected by Environment Agency defences.
Although this band of rainfall has now passed, there is a continued flood risk as water makes its way through catchments and river levels remain high. The latest information on flood warnings and flood alerts can be found on gov.uk.
While the Met Office has forecast a relatively calm Christmas Day, Storm Bella is expected to bring high winds and further heavy rain moving in from the north on Boxing Day and into the 27th December. This means that there is the possibility of minor flooding in parts of the South West, South East, West Midlands, and North West.
Environment Agency teams have been out on the ground yesterday, overnight, and into today deploying barriers and pumps, working with the emergency services and partners to reduce the risk for communities across the country, and supporting those who have sadly been flooded. This activity will continue over the coming days to keep people safe over Christmas and the New Year.
Caroline Douglass, Flood Duty Manager at the Environment Agency, said:
Heavy and persistent rainfall has led to widespread surface water and river flooding in some communities in the south of England, parts of the Midlands, Lincolnshire and East Anglia, with a number of properties flooded in Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire.
The flood risk will remain elevated over impacted areas in the coming days, with further rain over the weekend bringing the risk of flooding to the South West, South East, West Midlands and north of England.
Environment Agency teams are working 24/7 alongside the emergency services and local partners to support those who have been flooded, reduce the risk of further flooding and keep communities safe through the festive period.
We urge people to keep away from swollen rivers and not to drive through flood water – it is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car.
People should check their flood risk, sign up for free flood warnings and keep up to date with the latest situation at via Gov.uk or follow @EnvAgency on Twitter for the latest flood updates.
1 comment
Comment by William Hughes-Games posted on
If you haven't introduced beavers into the heat waters of the steams that run through the flooded areas then you are not taking the threat seriously. Your citizens should be voting you out and putting some more sensible people in charge. Beavers are an inexpensive, very effective solution to flooding and bring a host of other benefits as well.
https://mtkass.blogspot.com/2007/07/canadian-beaver-pest-or-benefactor.html