Storms bring in new flood fears as Midlands takes battering
Flood warnings were in place today after a night of torrential downpours that wreaked havoc throughout the West Midlands.
Forecasters say heavy rain and savage winds will batter the country tomorrow and over the weekend.
Roads were blocked, buildings flooded and trees sent crashing down as the first storms of the new year brought widespread misery. They came after days of torrential rain and gales over the holiday period.
The Environment Agency has issued 245 flood alerts and 67 flood warnings, including 48 in the Midlands, while a special meeting of the Government's Cobra emergencies team was taking place today.
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson was chairing the meeting, organised to ensure that councils are 'on the ground and offering all possible support to their communities'. In the West Midlands, last night's heavy rain and winds brought two 75ft conifer trees crashing into the front garden of a home in Wolverhampton.
New Year's Day events were also marred by the bad weather. The traditional New Year's Day duck race in Bewdley was called off over fears about the high level of the River Severn. Bridgnorth Road at Stourton, near Stourbridge, was one of the areas where flood water made routes unpassable.
Today the Environment Agency said it was working hard to deal with conditions.
A brief respite from the wind and rain is expected today before a fresh low pressure system moves in from the Atlantic tomorrow, bringing with it gusts of up to 60 mph.
Meanwhile, a 27-year-old man is feared dead after he was swept out to sea while celebrating the new year with friends on a beach near Portleven in Cornwall.
A woman died in the surf in north Devon on New Year's Eve, and a search is currently ongoing for a man believed to have fallen into the River Stour in Dorset.
