And here comes Frank! NASA picture shows the NEXT storm on its way to batter flood-hit areas - as residents say deluge has transformed region into a Third World country

Daily Mail: This incredible photograph taken from space shows how Storm Frank is heading for Britain with residents of flood-hit communities in the north of England bracing themselves for further misery. Residents of some of the worst-hit areas today claimed the widespread deluge had transformed towns and villages into a 'Third World country' and said the flooding was like living in a 'war zone'. Troops and mountain rescue teams have spent much of the day evacuating residents from properties across York, after rivers toppled flood defences following heavy downpours on Boxing Day. While many were hoping the floodwaters might begin to recede in the coming days, forecasters announced that the country's sixth named storm - Frank - is heading straight for the UK, bringing 80mph winds and more than three inches of rain. The weather system, shown in spectacular images from NASA, is heading towards Britain and is expected to cause a 'significant impact' – particularly to those in the already-flooded northern regions – when it hits on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. The Met Office has now issued severe amber-graded weather warnings – which advise residents to 'be prepared' for extreme weather – amid concerns the storm will bring additional flooding...read more>>>...

Flood Alerts As Rain Moves North

Source: Sky News UK (Sunday 7th September 2008)

Torrential rain that has deluged parts of England and Wales could continue to cause flooding for several days, experts are warning.

Five people, including a teenage girl, have died as a result of treacherous conditions on the roads, while flash floods have forced hundreds of families from their homes.

The worst-affected areas are in the north-east of England.

The Environment Agency has issued several severe flood warnings, with properties around Catterick and Morpeth among those most at risk.

But problems remains across large areas, with around 100 flood warnings in place as water makes its way down from the hills.

Floods Will Get Worse, Report Warns

A report on the floods that affected wide areas of the country during the summer has warned that urgent steps need to be taken to cope with worse flooding to come.

Sir Michael Pitt, Chairman of the South West Strategic Health Authority, was asked by Ministers to conduct an independent review of the flooding emergency during June and July.

Presenting his interim report, Sir Michael said it did not point the finger of blame at anyone for the problems.

However, the report recommends that a national emergency framework should be urgently developed by the Government to avoid a repeat of the summer's devastating floods.

Other recommendations include no buildings to be constructed in flood risk areas that are not flood-resilient, and water companies, local authorities and other bodies to draw up proposals for investment in the drainage network.

The torrential downpour which deluged large swathes of the country causing billions of pounds-worth of damage were a "wake-up call" for the country, the report concludes. (Sky News)

Coast villages to be sacrificed to the sea

Whole villages and swathes of agricultural land will be surrendered to the sea because the Government is unwilling to spend billions of pounds on flood defences. Ministers have admitted privately that they are preparing to evacuate settlements on the east coast within the next 30 years because it is not "cost effective" to save them.

Thousands of acres of farmland will be allowed to flood, potentially jeopardising food production in areas such as East Anglia.

Parts of the Norfolk and Suffolk coastline will not be given a penny for defences because they have been deemed impossible to save, according to leaked details of the Government's coastal flooding and erosion risk assessment.

The study, which is being conducted by the Environment Agency and will report in June next year, uses a points system to decide which parts of coastline will receive flood defences and which will be abandoned. The plan comes despite warnings that destructive storm surges are becoming more frequent with climate change.

Tens of thousands of householders were put on alert last week for one of the largest tidal surges to strike Britain in 50 years. The threat was so serious that Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, called two meetings of Cobra, the emergency cabinet committee which plans responses to national disasters.

However, a senior government insider told The Sunday Telegraph that the flood assessment under way at present will lead to some areas of Britain being sacrificed. (Sunday Telegraph)

Tidal Surge: Flooding Threat Scaled Down

Evacuated residents are preparing to return to their homes, after a tidal surge hit the east coast, flooding properties and roads. The immediate threat of the 3.77m surge is being scaled down, according to the Environment Agency.

Fears of widespread flooding in the region have diminished as surging tides peaked without any major breaches of defence barriers. About 500 people were evacuated along the east coast and police contacted 7500 homes of those most at risk. (Sky News)

Tidal wave heading for England's east coast 'threatens homes and lives'

Daily Mail Headline; says: 'Tens of thousands of householders are today preparing for some of the worst coastal floods in decades. Sea levels could rise up to 9ft this morning along part of the East Coast, putting lives at risk.

Sea defences in Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft could be breached around 7am, sending a torrent of salt water into the towns. Police and fire services were last night preparing to evacuate thousands of homes. Householders were stocking up on sandbags and emergency provisions.

The Norfolk Broads, Essex and northern Kent could also be hit, and the entire coast from Immingham in Humberside to Margate in Kent has been told to be on alert.

The Environment Agency, which issued eight severe flood warnings, last night said it was "gravely concerned" about the threat. Gordon Brown called a meeting of the emergency Cabinet committee Cobra to prepare for his third major flood crisis since taking office in the summer.

The tidal surge is being caused by 50mph winds in the North Sea, an unusually high tide and an area of low pressure off the East Coast.

Simon Hughes, of the Environment Agency, said: "Great Yarmouth is very low lying and the surge is expected to hit at the same time as the high tide."

It is expected to measure almost 5ft above what is normally expected - but in the worst case, it could be more than 9ft higher.

Mr Hughes said the defences were almost 10ft high, "so it's going to be close and we are gravely concerned. The most important thing that people can do is contact the Environment Agency's Floodline to see if they will be affected. If they are, they can move valuables upstairs, move their vehicles and ensure that their neighbours are safe."

The surge has echoes of the East Coast floods of 1953, when more than 1,000 people died.

"Things are very different now," said Mr Hughes. "We have flood defences, a warning system and the emergency services are well prepared and practice for floods."

Around 8,000 homes in Great Yarmouth could be at risk, along with 1,800 in Lowestoft. Last night, locals were collecting sandbags from the council and preparing to barricade their homes.

Extreme weather breaks records in 2007

Swiss Info Headline; says: 'The world experienced a series of record-breaking weather events in early 2007, from flooding in Asia to heatwaves in Europe and snowfall in South Africa, the United Nations weather agency said on Tuesday. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said global land surface temperatures in January and April were likely the warmest since records began in 1880, at more than 1 degree Celsius higher than average for those months.

There have also been severe monsoon floods across South Asia, abnormally heavy rains in northern Europe, China, Sudan, Mozambique and Uruguay, extreme heatwaves in southeastern Europe and Russia, and unusual snowfall in South Africa and South America this year, the WMO said.

"The start of the year 2007 was a very active period in terms of extreme weather events," Omar Baddour of the agency's World Climate Programme told journalists in Geneva.

While most scientists believe extreme weather events will be more frequent as heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions cause global temperatures to rise, Baddour said it was impossible to say with certainty what the second half of 2007 will bring.

Floods Threaten Ancient & Historic Sites

Guardian UK: says; 'Severe weather is washing away thousands of years of heritage in the UK. Maev Kennedy surveys the damage to Silbury Hill and Rotherwas Ribbon.'

Rain falling remorselessly on Silbury Hill on Thursday 26th July 2007, pooled on the sodden fields at its foot, and dangerously seeped down into the core of the most enigmatic prehistoric monument in Europe. The entire hill near Avebury in Wiltshire is artificial, built around 4,500 years ago by stupendous human effort with an estimated 35m baskets of chalk. Yesterday, archaeologists and engineers were engaged in urgent discussions on how to save Silbury, after the torrential rain caused further damage to a structure already weakened by earlier floods.

The engineering contractors Skanska, who were carrying out structural repairs for English Heritage, pulled its miners off the hill on Monday, fearing that the 40-year-old tunnel in which they were working might collapse. A few days ago their temporary access track was under a metre of water.

Silbury's purpose - observatory, ritual platform or simply awe-inspiring demonstration of power and wealth - is still guesswork. No original chamber or passage has ever been detected. The site is wreathed in folklore of treasure hoards, which have attracted centuries of treasure-hunters.

In floods five years ago, a chasm opened at the top of the hill, where a poorly filled 200-year-old shaft collapsed, and water poured down into the structure, seeping into voids left by generations of later diggers, including the tunnels from a major excavation in the 1960s. The plan, now left in chaos by the weather, was to empty those tunnels completely of their previous loose fill, and then pack them solidly again with chalk. Instead rain is still seeping into the mound, from the summit where the earlier domed repair has already partly washed away, causing damage which can't even be fully assessed until the rain stops.

Silbury is not alone. As well as the human tragedies, the floods have been washing away thousands of years of history, across a swath of central and southern England. Silbury has been unmissable for millennia, but in Hereford, rain has been scouring away parts of a mysterious structure uncovered only a few weeks ago: the Rotherwas Ribbon, a serpentine path surfaced with deliberately burned stones, winding up a shallow hill - slap in the path of an unpopular new road plan.

Water back in 65,000 homes

The Sun; says; 'Water should return to more than 65,000 flood hit homes over the next few days. At lunchtime today, water started travelling through an extensive network of pipes to homes in Gloucester, Quedgeley, Bishop’s Cleeve and Prestbury.

Martin Kane, director of Severn Trent Water, said it could take up to three days as returning the water pressure to normal was a long process.He said: “We’ve got to bring the water into the network in a systematic way.“Mains water has to be pressurised at a certain level before household appliances such as washing machines can operate. And it takes time for such a vast amount of water to reach the right pressure. There is still a very long way to go.”

Speaking at a press conference at Gloucestershire police headquarters, he said operations to restore water to a further 60,000 homes in Cheltenham and the surrounding area could get under way in the next few days. He added that it was hoped mains water could be restored across the whole of the area affected by flooding by August 5. The water supply slowly being restored over the area is strictly for drinking and washing only.

Same Month: Two Different Summers

It's a tale of two summers. This time last year, we were sweltering in the hottest July on record - whereas, as we know, this July is the wettest ever. Sky's Mark Stone reports on what a difference a year makes. Sky News Video

Water Restored - But Don't Drink It Yet

Thousands of homes in flood-hit areas are having their water restored, but people have been warned not to drink it. Water officials said they were ahead of schedule in restoring supplies, but it could be another 10 days before drinkable water comes through the pipes. Nevertheless, residents were told no-one need go thirsty in the wake of the floods as there was now plenty of drinking water to go round. Gloucestershire Police Chief Constable Timothy Brain said water bowsers were being refilled up to four times a day - and there were large stocks of bottled drinking water. "No-one need go thirsty. No-one need dehydrate," he told a media conference in Tewkesbury, the town hit worst by the floods.He praised residents for the way in which they had been coping with the crisis, adding: "I'd like to thank the people of Gloucestershire for their good humour and community spirit."

Environment Agency official Paul Quinn confirmed the risk of flooding was receding - as were the floodwaters themselves. (Sky News)

New Weekend Weather Warning

Sky News Headline; says: 'Yet more misery could be piled onto flood victims this weekend after the Met Office issued a severe weather alert for heavy rain. Up to nine hours of rain could be dumped on those areas worst affected by the floods on Saturday and Sunday.

That could cause flash flooding and rising river levels.

The warning says: "The rain will be locally heavy with up to 30mm in places, but hills exposed to the southwest could see 40mm of rain. The period of rain is expected to last for six-nine hours. The Environment Agency is warning that everywhere in England and Wales is currently saturated and there is the risk that any further heavy rainfall will run off the ground and go straight into the rivers. As a result, we could see the levels in watercourses responding very quickly."

Sky News weather forecaster Lucy Verasamy said it was unclear which areas would be hit hardest. "There is some uncertainty as to the rain's northerly extent but vulnerable areas are at risk," she said."So it is worth checking the Sky News weather forecast over the weekend to see how things develop."

Yobs risk flood victims' lives

Sun Headline; Says: "Furious flood victims last night slammed yobs who ruined their emergency water supply. Gangs of youngsters urinated in a desperately-needed water bowser and tipped bleach into another.They also emptied one of the mobile tankers of its precious water within 15 minutes of its arrival in Cheltenham, Gloucs — then stood by laughing. Furious locals, among the hundreds of thousands of people left without mains water, called in police community support officers to guard other bowsers on the town’s tough Hester’s Way estate.

One told The Sun: “It’s unbelievable that they think it’s funny to put people’s lives in danger. Everybody in Cheltenham is without water and desperate for any help they can get. For a gang of youngsters to think it’s some kind of big joke is just plain sick."

Soon there will be cries for 'something must be done?' The problem is clear to see ... stage 2 the reaction ... then stage 3 the 'need' for Martial law? Surely not?

Flood Town Mourns Rugby Club Victims

Sky News Headline; says: ' A top-level inquiry will be held into the recent flooding as Tewkesbury mourns the loss of a father and a son who died while pumping flood water. Bram Lane, who died alongside his son Chris at their local rugby club was described as a "lynchpin" of the community who lived for the sport. When everyone else went home, the pair decided to carry on pumping water from the cellar of Mr Lane senior's beloved club which lies next to the town's ancient abbey.

It is believed they used a petrol-powered pump because of a power cut and may have been overcome by the fumes or electrocuted as they worked.

Police discovered their bodies this morning after the alarm was raised.

Bugs Risk to Flood Victims

Daily Express Report, says: CONTAMINATED drinking water is putting flood victims at risk, say experts. Water companies have admitted human sewage and animal manure has leaked into mains water supplying thousands of homes. Flood victims have been told to use either bottled water or boiled tap water.

Last night, Professor Hugh Pennington, a microbiologist at Aberdeen University, said that a bacterium called Cryptosporidium was the biggest danger. It can cause stomach upsets and severe diarrhoea and in rare cases it can prove fatal to those with weak immune systems“ If this gets into the drinking supplies it can be a nasty bug,” said Prof Pennington.” Hopefully this risk is small, simply because there has been so much rain that levels of this bug are diluted.”He added that those handling items rescued from flooded homes should take care as these could be contaminated.

Ian Cluckie, professor of hydrology at Bristol University, said he was staggered to see film of children playing in the flood water. “People think it is harmless rainwater but it is effectively diluted untreated human sewage,” he said.

UK: May - July Wettest on Record

Daily Express report; says: 'The three months from May to July have been the wettest on record even before July is over, the Met Office has revealed. Figures show that 387.6mm of rain have already fallen across England and Wales, making it the wettest May to July since records began in 1766. The figures will come as no surprise to the thousands of people who have been forced from their homes by the recent devastating floods - the worst in modern times. The total rainfall was 208% higher than the average for May to July, forecasters said.

The extreme rainfall in June, where 103.1mm of rain fell at Fylingdales in North Yorkshire in a 24 hour period between June 24 and 25, was followed by a similar deluge in July when Pershore College in Worcestershire saw 120.8mm of rain fall on July 20. Both downpours resulted in extensive flooding across much of England and Wales.

Research by the Met Office has for the first time identified a link between human activity and global rainfall patterns. Peter Stott, climate scientist at the Met Office, said: "This latest study cannot make the link between climate change and what we have experienced so far this summer. However, with a warmer climate there could be an increase in extreme rainfall events despite the expected general trend toward drier summers."

The figures were revealed ahead of a Met Office briefing on Thursday on the extraordinary weather. Met Office scientists will try to explain why the UK has been experiencing such unsettled conditions.

Update: 'Anxious Night Ahead For Flood Victims'

Sky News Headline; says: As hundreds of people spend the night in an emergency shelter in Oxford, there are fears of more flooding in the city and further along the Thames. Much of west Oxford was engulfed after tributaries to the Thames burst their banks and evacuated residents have been sent to Oxford United's Kassam Stadium. There are severe flood warnings in place for Oxford and Abingdon, and the Thameside towns of Wallingford and Henley have been warned to be prepared. Pangbourne, Purley and Mapledurham were also preparing for floods, as were Reading and Caversham.

The flood peak is forecast to reach Marlow, Cookham, Datchet, Wraysbury, Staines, Laleham and Shepperton later in the week but with only limited flooding. Windsor, Eton and Maidenhead will be protected from the flood waters by the Jubilee and Cookham flood defences, said the Environment Agency.

I must dig my A level Geography notes out on 'the gulf stream' sometime. It appears there is something sadly wrong with its functioning

Uk: Further Rain Expected This Week & Over The Weekend

A severe flood warning remains in force from Eynsham Lock, Eynsham, to Sandford Lock, Sandford-on-Thames, and from there down to Days Lock on the River Thames.

Levels are expected to peak in Wallingford and flooding is predicted to start in Henley this afternoon.

The Environment Agency says six severe flood warnings and 33 other flood warnings are in place.Further rain is expected this week and into the weekend, Sky News' weather department said.

Parts of Oxford were swamped overnight and towns along the River Thames are now under imminent threat. The flood focus is on areas such as Reading, Henley, Windsor and Marlow, where river levels are expected to peak soon. (Sky News)

Now victims of deluge are warned of virus danger

Daily Mail Headline; says: 'Fears are growing growing today that contaminated floodwater could lead to a major outbreak of disease. Health bosses say hundreds of thousands of flood victims now face an increased risk from bugs in contaminated water. They claim that the failure of sewage plants could lead to the spread of microorganisms such as the noroviruses, which cause gastroenteritis and winter vomiting disease. Health Protection Agency officials today advised people living in affected areas to prevent their children from playing in the floodwater, to wear protective clothing and to take special precautions when preparing infant formula milk. The water may have been contaminated with sewage, animal waste and other potential toxins, the agency said.

Tony Thompson, head of emergency response for the Red Cross, said: "If you even handle floodwater you should disinfect yourself. It should be treated as potentially poisonous.î

Dr Peter Wyn-Jones, a microbiologist at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, said: "Under flood conditions we have a large mixing bowl.The flooded rivers compromise sewage treatment plants and the sewage will not be treated properly. It will just be mixing with the flooded river water."

Aussie Update: Desperate scenes in England

Sydney Morning Herald; says: "Water levels were expected to peak along the River Thames early today, with the Government pledging more money to combat Britain's worst floods in living memory. There were more desperate scenes across central and western England, which have borne the brunt of the floods, with news that a young mother's premature twins died despite her being rescued by an Royal Air Force (RAF) helicopter, while a teenager from the town of Tewkesbury had not been seen since Saturday.

The British Red Cross, meanwhile, launched a nationwide appeal for funds to help tackle the effects of the floods, and raised £300,000 ($703,000) in its first hour. In addition to the £14 million it had pledged earlier this month for flood relief, the Government also announced a further £10 million aimed at battling the floods.

Its crisis response committee, Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, or Cobra, met late on Monday and again on Tuesday as some rivers topped levels reached during floods in 1947, as meteorologists forecast more rain.

The Environment Agency said that floodwater levels had peaked on the River Severn, but warned that the Thames could still experience surges."