Generator used to tackle Bewdley floods is stolen
Thieves have stolen a generator left by the Environment Agency to pump water from a flood-hit town.
The machinery was taken from Bewdley, where the rising levels of the River Severn have forced barriers up and the closure of the town's bridge.
Environment Agency spokesman Dave Throup tweeted:
West Mercia Police confirmed the £500 red Honda generator was stolen from Beales Corner, Bewdley between 7.30pm and 8.30pm last night. Anyone with information is asked to call 101.
As more rain was forecast across the country, David Cameron was due to continue to visit flood-hit areas of the country today while the row over the 'blame game' for problems intensified.
The Prime Minister has urged his feuding cabinet ministers to stop infighting and sniping at the Environment Agency as alarm spreads about the potential scale of serious flooding along the Thames Valley.
Efforts to deal with the flooding have been overshadowed by a clash between ministers and the agency, after communities secretary Eric Pickles issued a barbed apology for relying on its advice.
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson – who was leading the response until being forced to undergo an eye operation – is said to have complained to Downing Street over his Tory colleague's intervention.
Mr Pickles sought to make light of a supposed rift, describing Mr Paterson as his 'brother from a different mother' after being summoned to the Commons to respond to an urgent question.
Mr Cameron, on a visit to Chesil Beach yesterday, praised the work of the Environment Agency but gave only limited support to its under-fire chairman Lord Smith.
