People across the UK are being urged to prepare for more heavy rain, flooding, and cold weather in the coming days. The Environment Agency has issued 80 flood warnings – mainly in the west and southwest England – and 155 flood alerts. An alert for severe cold weather has also been issued for England from Sunday evening as temperatures drop. Yellow Met Office rain warnings are also already in place across most of western England and Wales.
The latest warnings follow flooding across the UK earlier this week, which caused travel disruption and hundreds of homes to lose power. The Met Office has also issued a level two cold weather alert for much of England from Sunday evening until Thursday morning, ahead of colder conditions moving in across the UK. “This weather could increase the health risks to vulnerable patients and disrupt the delivery of services,” it said, saying there was a 70% chance of severely cold weather, icy conditions, and heavy snow.
The Met Office’s Helen Caughey said: “After a spell of wet and mild weather to start 2023, a brief cold spell will change the feel of our weather across the UK for a few days next week.” She said it will “certainly feel cold in all regions too, with the northerly winds creating a notable wind chill” – although the colder spell is expected to be short-lived.
The flood warnings – meaning flooding is expected – include those for groundwater flooding, as well as for areas close to rivers such as the Avon, Severn and Wye. In the West Midlands, which has already been hit by flooding, people are braced for peak river levels at the weekend. Some flood warnings and alerts are also in place further north, including in Keswick in the Lake District, Yorkshire, as well as in Wales.
Devon has been one of the areas already hit by flooding, including near Tiverton, where several roads were flooded after the River Exe burst its banks. Some properties were left cut off. Darren Ninnis, manager of the Anchor Inn in Exebridge, was stuck as water rose inside and outside his pub on Thursday. “[It’s] loss of business, as always, and just more work and hassle. With more rain forecast, we’re just worried next week we’ll do the same again,” Mr Ninnis told the BBC.
Flooding also caused a partial closure on the railway line between Totnes and Plymouth – although services were reportedly “returning to normal” on Friday afternoon – while near Withy pool in Somerset a section of an ancient footbridge over the River Barle washed away after heavy rain.
The bad weather has also caused travel disruption across much of Wales, with people having to be rescued from cars trapped in water and homes damaged and left without power. A golf driving range near Cowbridge, west of Cardiff, flooded after the River Ely burst its banks. “If we had more rain yesterday lunchtime I think we’d have been underwater,” manager and pro golfer Aled Griffiths told BBC Radio Wales. Natural Resources Wales has issued a flood warning near the River Wye at Monmouth, where a Met Office yellow rain warning is in place across much of Wales until Saturday.
There are also two flood warnings in place in Scotland for Callander to Stirling. Meanwhile, the Met Office has issued a yellow rain and wind warning for Northern Ireland on Saturday and Sunday. And a yellow weather warning for rain also covers part of the south-west of England and north-west England until 12:00 on Saturday.
