Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes amid severe flooding across England and Wales that is now believed to have claimed four lives. Hundreds of families in Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Shropshire have been moved to safety. Prime Minister (??) Tony Blair expressed his sympathy to the families of the dead and those displaced by what he described as an "extraordinary and very serious event". "The immediate thing is to make sure we get the right co-ordination with the emergency services... and that we try to make sure we prevent any further loss of life," he said. The Environment Agency labelled current weather conditions "phenomenal". The agency's flood expert, Phil Rothwell, said: "We've had a sixth of the annual rainfall in 12 hours. Climate change experts tell us that this is the sort of thing we need to expect for the future." Of the 21 severe flood warnings in place, 13 are in north-east England, seven in the east of the country and one in the Midlands. The Met Office, which forecasts the weather and works closely with the Environment Agency in dealing with floods, had issued an early warning last Friday. It had correctly predicted that 50-100mm of rain would fall in the 24 hours from 2200 BST on Sunday, with the worst-affected areas being Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. (BBC News)Wednesday 27 June 2007
UK:Floods force thousands from homes
Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes amid severe flooding across England and Wales that is now believed to have claimed four lives. Hundreds of families in Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Shropshire have been moved to safety. Prime Minister (??) Tony Blair expressed his sympathy to the families of the dead and those displaced by what he described as an "extraordinary and very serious event". "The immediate thing is to make sure we get the right co-ordination with the emergency services... and that we try to make sure we prevent any further loss of life," he said. The Environment Agency labelled current weather conditions "phenomenal". The agency's flood expert, Phil Rothwell, said: "We've had a sixth of the annual rainfall in 12 hours. Climate change experts tell us that this is the sort of thing we need to expect for the future." Of the 21 severe flood warnings in place, 13 are in north-east England, seven in the east of the country and one in the Midlands. The Met Office, which forecasts the weather and works closely with the Environment Agency in dealing with floods, had issued an early warning last Friday. It had correctly predicted that 50-100mm of rain would fall in the 24 hours from 2200 BST on Sunday, with the worst-affected areas being Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. (BBC News)