Post date: Nov 26, 2012 3:29:25 PM
Floods triggered by heavy rains continue to batter south west England as storm moves up to the north.
CIRENCESTER, GLOUCESTERSHIRE AND MALMESBURY, WILTSHIRE, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 26, 2012) (BBC/ITN) - Heavy flooding continued to hit south west England on Monday (November 26) after three people were killed and hundreds of homes affected since Wednesday (November 21), according to Britain's Environment Agency.
As the storm moved towards northern England the agency said a further 70,000 properties were at risk. The heavy rain and winds led to more flooding and disruption to rail services and road routes.Aerial footage shot along the M4 (motorway) corridor which suffered severe flooding during the weekend, revealed homes, roads and land submerged in water. The bad weather also affected farms in Cirencester where cows were seen stuck in saturated fields.
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson visited Exeter in the western county of Devon on Monday, where a 21-year-old woman was crushed to death by a falling tree on Saturday (November 24). Another two people were seriously injured in the accident.
"I'd like to offer my deepest sympathies to those who have been affected by floods, 450 households all over the south west, it's frightening for young people, very difficult for elderly people and of course very disruptive for business," Paterson said.
In Worle, North Somerset, rescue teams were using pumps and other machinery to dry flooded streets and help stranded residents.
Severe damage was also caused to homes, cars and infrastructure in Kennford, near Exeter as the River Kenn burst its banks and flooded properties. Residents said water was up to waist height in the street during the weekend.
"(On) Saturday night, about ten, eleven o'clock it started coming in, we kept out all these sand bags and suddenly it just rushed in like, you know, got pretty high throughout the whole house really, front to back," said Matthew Wescott, a local resident.
Another man whose family was forced to evacuate their home, said he was not sure where they would spend the following night.
"We are staying at my wife's nan's at the moment hopefully for tonight and then tomorrow we don't know where we are going to be because her nan doesn't got a lot of rooms there for us," he said.
Forecasters have warned the severe weather was set to continue.