Fierce Flooding Heavy Rains submerge rail and roads in northern England
Pastor Dale Morgan
Fierce Flooding Heavy Rains submerge rail and roads in northern England*
LONDON, Jan 21 (AFP) Jan 21, 2008
British rail and road links were disrupted by flooding on Monday while
residents were evacuated in northern England after rivers burst their
banks, transport officials said.
One woman spent a night in her car after it was swept away by
floodwaters, although no injuries have so far been reported following a
week of rising water levels.
The main west coast rail line between Scotland and England was cut
between Preston and Lancaster, along with numerous other routes in the
north of England, according to operator Network Rail.
There were no trains operating from Leeds to York, Manchester, Blackpool
and a number of other cities, according to a Northern Rail spokesman.
On the roads, traffic came to a virtual standstill on sections of the
main M1 north-south motorway as well as the M62 in northern England,
according to officials cited by the BBC.
Twenty homes were evacuated in Huddersfield, with people housed in a
nearby sports centre, while some 60 children were moved from a nursery
in the nearby town of Elland, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said.
In Silsden, also in West Yorkshire, about 60 people were evacuated from
a factory after its car park flooded. Fire brigade crews helped workers
cross the water using ropes.
Further south, a 45-year-old woman driver became trapped in her car
after it was washed away as she tried to cross a ford near Bridgenorth
in the western county of Shropshire on Sunday evening.
She could not get a mobile phone signal and spent the night in her car,
before rescued Monday by emergency services officers who formed a "human
chain" to help her out.
The rising water levels have fueled fears of a repeat of the flooding
which hit the country last summer.
Four people were killed in June floods which affected north and central
England, while three died in the south, all in the town of Tewkesbury,
where water reached the base of the town's ancient abbey.