From BBC

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles says the government “made a mistake” and should have dredged the flood-hit Somerset Levels.

He said it may have relied too much on Environment Agency advice.

There are now 16 severe flood warnings – meaning “danger to life” – in place, two in the Somerset Levels and 14 along the Thames in Berkshire and Surrey between Datchet and Shepperton Green.

Further rain is forecast across the UK this week.

The Environment Agency also has more than 70 lesser flood warnings in place across the South East.

Issuing the severe flood warnings for the Thames in Berkshire, the agency said “river levels will continue to rise for at least 24 hours and are forecast to be higher than those experienced in 2003…

“Widespread property flooding is expected in the area and disruption to local infrastructure is possible.”

In response to Mr Pickles’ comments, it added: “The Environment Agency’s immediate priority is to protect people and property in the face of this extreme period of weather.

“Until the danger to people and property has passed, we are putting all our energy and focus into this vital work which is recognised by government.”

Soldiers called

The main rail route into Devon and Cornwall remains cut off by the problems caused by the flooding and the storm damage but a line from Somerset to Exeter closed by a landslip on Saturday has reopened.

Recent rainfall in the area has meant water levels have increased by about a quarter of an inch (0.6cm) an hour in the village of Burrowbridge.

In other developments:

• About 20 residents are being rescued by firefighters from a caravan park next to the River Thames near Northmoor in Oxfordshire which has become flooded for the second time in five weeks
• The body of a man found on the shoreline in the St Cyrus area of Aberdeenshire was that of a missing Fife man, police have confirmed
• The prime minister is to hold an emergency Cobra meeting later over the flooding crisis
• Road have been closed by flooding and fallen trees in Wales, where 64,000 properties were left without electricity after power cuts
• Rail passengers between London and Kent are facing fresh disruption because of a landslip at Meopham in Kent
• Reserve soldiers of 7 Battalion The Rifles were called in to dam a breach in the Kennet Canal which threatened an electrical sub-station near Burghfield, south of Reading

The Environment Agency has faced criticism that it has not done enough to help those affected.

Repeated calls for dredging – a process which removes silt from river channels so that water can flow through – were made to government departments by farmers and others in the region at least six months ago, but funding was declined.

The area has not been dredged since the late 1990s, according to Prime Minister David Cameron who visited the area on Friday

Issuing the severe flood warnings for the Thames in Berkshire, the agency said “river levels will continue to rise for at least 24 hours and are forecast to be higher than those experienced in 2003…

“Widespread property flooding is expected in the area and disruption to local infrastructure is possible.”

In response to Mr Pickles’ comments, it added: “The Environment Agency’s immediate priority is to protect people and property in the face of this extreme period of weather.

“Until the danger to people and property has passed, we are putting all our energy and focus into this vital work which is recognised by government.”

Soldiers called

The main rail route into Devon and Cornwall remains cut off by the problems caused by the flooding and the storm damage but a line from Somerset to Exeter closed by a landslip on Saturday has reopened.

Recent rainfall in the area has meant water levels have increased by about a quarter of an inch (0.6cm) an hour in the village of Burrowbridge.

In other developments:

• About 20 residents are being rescued by firefighters from a caravan park next to the River Thames near Northmoor in Oxfordshire which has become flooded for the second time in five weeks
• The body of a man found on the shoreline in the St Cyrus area of Aberdeenshire was that of a missing Fife man, police have confirmed
• The prime minister is to hold an emergency Cobra meeting later over the flooding crisis
• Road have been closed by flooding and fallen trees in Wales, where 64,000 properties were left without electricity after power cuts
• Rail passengers between London and Kent are facing fresh disruption because of a landslip at Meopham in Kent
• Reserve soldiers of 7 Battalion The Rifles were called in to dam a breach in the Kennet Canal which threatened an electrical sub-station near Burghfield, south of Reading

The Environment Agency has faced criticism that it has not done enough to help those affected.

Repeated calls for dredging – a process which removes silt from river channels so that water can flow through – were made to government departments by farmers and others in the region at least six months ago, but funding was declined.

The area has not been dredged since the late 1990s, according to Prime Minister David Cameron who visited the area on Friday

Speaking in Burrowbridge, UKIP leader Nigel Farage called for a public inquiry into how the country deals with river management.

And Tessa Munt, MP for Wells, said: “I brought the flooding minister here to see the whole area back in April last year and we made very clear the need for dredging then, and I think it hasn’t happened fast enough but now it’s going to happen.”

Rachel Sutton, acting leader of Exeter City Council, said more money was needed to improve rail lines.

She said rail lines had been blocked near Exeter 12 months ago because of flooding, and government funding was needed to protect lines which were “vulnerable in a number of places”.

“The local authorities can’t do this on their own, particularly when we’re having to cut back because of cuts to our grant from central government,” she said.

Network Rail said the Yeovil-Exeter line which was closed because of a landslip at Crewkerne reopened and a limited service from Exeter to London Waterloo is running at a reduced speed through the area.

In Dawlish, where the main line between Devon and Cornwall was destroyed by waves on Tuesday, concrete has been sprayed on to the cliff behind the track to make the area safer in the face of continuing high winds and large waves.

Network Rail said work at the site was “progressing well” in six-hour shifts between high tides.

However, a First Great Western spokesman said the weather had been hampering efforts to repair the track and predicted it would take four to six weeks to sort out.

‘No end in sight’

Peter Sloss, of the BBC Weather Centre, said the wind and rain would ease into Monday, though falling temperatures would mean some wintry showers.

But he said there was “no real end in sight”, with another area of low pressure reaching the UK on Monday night and into Tuesday, bringing more heavy rain.

Tuesday could see as much as 30mm (1in) fall in Wales and the south-west of England with more heavy rain is expected on Wednesday and Thursday.

Landslip

A local council leader has also called for the government to do more to help flood victims.

Winds are expected to ease through Sunday, but flood waters could continue to rise in some areas

For more on this story go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26106290

Original story

By Katie Wilson, MSN UK News

As devastating floods hit Britain forecasters predict more bad weather is on the way with rain and winds of up to 80mph expected to batter England and Wales over the weekend.

Residents in Somerset have already been forced to leave their homes after weeks of heavy rain.

There are now more than 300 low level flood alerts and 200 medium level warnings across the country.

And the storms are expected to move north this weekend.

Here a First Great Western train makes it way through flood-hit Moorland in Somerset.

For more pictures with this story go to:

http://news.uk.msn.com/in-pictures/uk-floods-in-pictures#image=1

Related story

UK storms: Coastal areas in west hit by renewed gales

From BBC

Work continues on the closed railway line at Dawlish, Devon amid a fresh storm

Gales are continuing to batter southern parts of the UK, with coastal areas hit by winds and rain.

Gusts reached 80mph on the coasts of Cornwall, the Bristol Channel and west Wales, and the Environment Agency has warned of the risk of further floods.

Police say flooding may be a factor in the death of a boy who was taken ill at a house in Chertsey, Surrey.

A landslip at Crewkerne in Somerset means all rail routes into the South West are now blocked..

First Great Western said the landslip meant there were no services running between Castle Cary and Exeter and replacement buses were in operation.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles: “It will get worse before it gets better”

Routes into the West Country via Bridgwater and Yeovil were already blocked because of flooding.

In Dawlish, where a key line between Devon and Cornwall was destroyed by waves on Tuesday, concrete has been sprayed onto the cliff behind the track to make the area safer in the face of continuing high winds and large waves.

Network Rail said work at the site was “progressing well” in six-hour shifts in between high tides.

The forecast is for strong winds and high tides but conditions on the Cornish Coast have not been as severe as earlier this week.

North Cornwall has seen choppy swell, bouts of hail and some fierce gusts, but also sporadic outbursts of sunshine.

Devon and Cornwall police are dealing with weather-related incidents, but have received far fewer calls than during Tuesday’s storm.

The Highways Agency has been responding to reports of downed trees blocking roads.

A coastal marathon has been rerouted, but sporting events are going ahead.

The Red Bull storm chaser windsurfing challenge was moved south from the choppy swell at Gwithian to the Hayle bluff.

Jay Barrett, 28, from St Agnes, was enjoying a breezy beach stroll at Hayle with his wife and two dogs and said: “This is great – embrace it!”

Meanwhile, the village of Moorland in Somerset, where about 80 homes were evacuated after the local water level rose by about one metre overnight on Thursday, breaching temporary flood defences in the early hours of Friday, is among three areas subject to severe flood warnings.

In other developments:

A seven-year-old boy has died and 17 people have been taken to hospital after police attended an incident at Thameside, Chertsey, with officers saying they say could not rule out a link to flooding

Coastguards in Devon said they were expecting “phenomenal” waves about 12 miles offshore, possibly reaching 45ft (14m) in height

In Birmingham an elderly woman was taken to hospital with serious injuries after a tree fell on to a car in Yardley

The Environment Agency is moving more staff from north-west England to flood-hit areas further south

Flybe is increasing its number of weekday flights between Gatwick and Newquay in Cornwall to six from three

Rail operator First Great Western has put in place special ticketing arrangements so that passengers affected by flood disruption can buy cheaper advance fares while revised timetables are put in place

On the M25, two of four lanes were closed clockwise between Junction 16 and 17 because of flooding

In the same area, link roads from the M40 onto the M25 clockwise were closed as flooding spread from surrounding fields onto the carriageway. The Highways Agency said normal traffic conditions should be restored on Sunday

Fire crews are dealing with rising floodwater which is threatening an important electricity substation near Reading. They are bringing in a high-volume pump from Hertfordshire because Berkshire’s pump is being used in Somerset. The substation is thought to serve about 40,000 homes and businesses

The government’s Cobra emergency committee met earlier.

The Ministry of Defence has put 1,500 personnel on notice to help with the aftermath of flooding in southern England if needed

The Conservative MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, Ian Liddell-Grainger, said river levels in his constituency remained “enormously high” and people there were “having to batten down again to prepare for the next storm”.

Engineers repairing the railway track in Dawlish have begun to spray concrete on the cliff behind the line

Professional windsurfers have travelled to Gwithian, in Cornwall, to ride the waves despite warnings from coastguards

Chertsey in Surrey was one of the areas suffering fresh flooding on Saturday

Flooding was also affecting the River Thames at Henley in Oxfordshire

Floodwater near Reading in Berkshire was threatening an electricity substation

A landslip on the rail line at Crewkerne, Somerset, means all routes into the South West are now cut off

He again criticised the Environment Agency and its head, the former Labour cabinet minister Lord Smith, for not dredging in the area to prepare for storms.

“We have been let down by London,” he said. “On the ground they [Environment Agency staff] are working hard. Up in London I do not know what they are doing.”

A little over a month ago, troops from 7th Battalion The Rifles were patrolling under the heat of the Afghan sun. In Berkshire, they are part of response to this latest torrid weather.

Around 60 soldiers are helping to lay down sandbags outside the Pingewood substation a few miles from their barracks in Reading – in an attempt to halt the relentless progress of flood water.

Another 20 soldiers are heading for Chieveley services where they will fill up bags from a supply of sand.

Their commanding officer said they were put on standby on Friday evening.

All the soldiers are reservists. Among those scooping the sand bags off the trucks and building the barricades are bin men, doctors, a financial advisor and an actor.

The BBC Weather Centre said high seas and large waves would continue throughout Saturday in many southern and western coastal areas.

But it said the tides were not as high as their spring tide peak last weekend.

A Met Office amber warning advising people to be prepared for strong winds is in effect for south-west England and Wales and the South coast.

An amber rain warning for southern England has expired, but a less severe yellow warning is valid until 06:00 GMT on Sunday.

The yellow warning covers the entire south of England plus parts of the Midlands and much of Wales.

The Met Office says winds will increase from the south west during the course of Saturday with gales affecting coastal districts. Further inland, gusts of 50-60 mph are likely.

Wales, north-west England and south-west Scotland could get 20-30mm (1in) of rain through the course of Saturday.

The strong winds are expected to last into Sunday morning but forecasters said most areas would have some respite from the stormy conditions on Sunday.

Monday would be a quiet day but wet and windy weather would return on Tuesday.

Defences breached

The Environment Agency has three severe flood warnings – which mean “danger to life” – in place, two in Somerset and one for Chiswell in the Isle of Portland.

The agency has also issued more than 180 flood warnings and almost 300 flood alerts.

Downing Street confirmed on Saturday that the prime minister received a letter from local farmers last September in which they asked for government funds to help with flood protection and dredging.

The request, for £1m, was passed on to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and declined by the floods minister at the time, Richard Benyon.

Mr Benyon, who is no longer a minister, told the BBC his decision was likely to have been taken on the basis of the “best available information” at the time.

He said the department received endless proposals for funding and needed to manage flood defences across the country.

“I’m not saying everything was got right on the [Somerset] Levels but… we have had the worst amount of rainfall since 1760 and to tie this argument down to one letter or one event; it’s much more complicated than that.”

Shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle said it was the “latest proof of neglect by the government”.

“This is further evidence that David Cameron made the wrong decision on flood protection funding and shows that neither he nor his environment secretary take the issue of flooding seriously.”

On Friday, Mr Cameron admitted there were “lessons to learn” from the flooding and said it had been “wrong” for the Environment Agency to pause dredging in the 1990s.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26095937