Floods In England & Scotland

Weather: Floods Bring Christmas Misery

Rail passengers are told to avoid parts of southwest England and South Wales as much of the UK is deluged by rain.

ENGLAND

Families preparing for Christmas have been hit by floods and travel chaos as heavy rain batters Britain.

The southwest of England has been particularly badly affected by the downpours. Three severe flood warnings - which means there is a danger to life - were issued in Devon and Cornwall.
Conditions are so bad that rail passengers have been told to avoid parts of southwest England and South Wales.
And motorists and shoppers faced difficult conditions on one of the busiest weekends of the year for travel and shopping.

Floods in Helston, Cornwall, led to homes being evacuated

The town of Braunton in north Devon has been effectively cut off, with homes and shops under water, after the River Caen burst its banks.
Liz Spear, chairwoman of Braunton Parish Council, said a river was running through the centre of the town.
"It's really bad. We had flooding seven years ago but it was nothing like this," she said.
Some residents in Helston, Cornwall, were evacuated overnight after river levels rose.
In Lostwithiel around 195 people were advised to leave their homes, and a rest area was set up in the Community Centre.
Cornwall Council spokeswoman Trisha Hewitt, said:  "As this is falling on saturated ground, this could cause further flooding."
The Environment Agency has issued 126 flood warnings - where flooding is expected - across the whole of England and Wales, and 338 flood alerts, where flooding is possible.

There was a landslide in the Cornish town of Looe

There was a heightened flood risk across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Bristol, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West and East Sussex, North Yorkshire, South Wales, Ceredigion and Gwynedd.
In Scotland, 17 flood warnings - mostly in Tayside - and 15 flood alerts were issued by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
The Met Office released amber weather warnings, which mean "be prepared", for heavy rain and strong winds across southwest England, Yorkshire and Humber, Wales, central Scotland and the Grampians until Sunday morning.
Sky News weather presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar said heavy rain was forecast to continue across much of the country.
"We're going to continue with bits and pieces of rain over south-western parts of England for the rest of today," she said.

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