UK on flood alert as storms/floods sweep country
Pastor Dale Morgan
UK on flood alert as storms/floods sweep country*
(Filed: 11/10/2006)
Britain is on the alert for fresh storms and flooding after 5ft-deep
waters left two men stranded on the roof of their truck.
Two men had to be rescued from their truck in Merseyside
The Environment Agency has 11 "Flood Watch" alerts in force - primarily
in Wales - after downpours concentrated in the west of mainland Britain.
Two men had to be rescued from the top of a truck in Bootle, Merseyside,
shortly after 7.30am as severe storms caused waters to rise to around
5ft deep around the vehicle.
A woman in her 20s was being treated in hospital for shock after a
lightning strike on her home in Margam, near Port Talbot in south west
Wales at about 1.30am.
A spokesman for Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: "We
took about 100 calls between 1.30am and 4am this morning and around 30
of those were flooding incidents."
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The bad weather also hit main line rail services. Trains between
Guildford and Aldershot were not running because of flooding - affecting
services operated by First Great Western and South West Trains.
Weather-related problems at Wolverhampton led to delays to services
operated by Arriva Trains Wales, Central Trains and Virgin Trains, while
Chiltern Railways experienced delays on its London-Aylesbury services
because of bad weather at Amersham.
On the Tube, services were suspended on the District line between
Turnham Green and Richmond due to flooding at Gunnersbury in west London.
Further north, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said a number of
houses in the area had been struck by lightning as well as a local fire
station in the Huyton area.
An Environment Agency Flood Watch alert means that flooding is
"expected" in low-lying land and roads and tells people to be alert. A
"Flood Warning" is more serious and is issued when homes and businesses
are set to flood.
Jeremy Plester of Meteogroup UK said much of the country was being
affected by rain with the heaviest downpours running in a diagonal line
between the Sussex-Hampshire border to Northamptonshire.
"There is much better weather across southern Ireland at the moment, the
sun is out," he said.
"That is going to edge very slowly north-eastward through the day.
"The overall picture is that there is more heavy rain to come through
this afternoon