Continue reading »]]> A British couple was rescued from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean by an Italian tanker after spending 40 days lost at sea.

Stuart Armstrong, 51, and his partner Andrea Davison, 48, are heading back to Britain on board the supertanker Indian Point.

Although unhurt, they were tired, exhausted and grateful to be returning home after their six-week ordeal in which they “stared death in the face.”

The drama began on Jan. 9, six days after the couple left the Cape Verde Islands off the West Coast of Africa on board their yacht Sara.

They were headed for Antigua where they intended to anchor until April.

But, midway through the 2,550-mile journey disaster struck and the rudder on the yacht jammed to starboard. Attempts to fix it were useless.

At this stage the couple, who live on the yacht in Majorca, were in the middle of the Atlantic, 1,200 miles from Antigua, five days sailing time away and out of range for any rescue attempt.

“In effect we were sailing round and round in circles as the rudder was stuck all the way over,” Armstrong said, speaking from the Indian Point. “We tried to counteract this by putting droves over the side to try and help point the boat towards land but we didn’t really have any great success.”

“At first we were not too bothered as we had a good supply of dry provisions, the usual things you have on a boat – pasta, kidney beans, biscuits, rice and soya. There was also plenty of water to keep us going, the radio was still working and we had power so there was no need to be too worried.”

He continued, “I have crossed the Atlantic seven times and this was Andrea’s fourth so we are pretty experienced and for the first few days it was a challenge and a bit of an adventure.”

“We alerted the coastguards in Britain and America and we also let our families know. I spent a good few days trying to fix the rudder as well but I just didn’t have any luck.”

Their first problem was around 10 days or so later when the alternator broke which meant they had no power.

“All that we had was a small solar panel which gave us enough to fire up the satellite phone but we had to ration it,” he said. “The loss of the alternator also meant that we could not use the desalination unit which turns sea water into drinking water so we also had to start rationing that as well.”

The American Coast Guard monitored their position but because of their remote location a rescue attempt was impossible and the couple simply carried on drifting with the current pushing them slowly towards the Caribbean.

During their weeks at sea the couple’s yacht was battered by storms but they managed to escape unscathed. However, as they neared the Bermuda triangle after more than a month at sea conditions began to worsen.

The reduced electrical power meant that Armstrong could only talk to his daughter once or twice a week and it was the same for Davison and her two children.

“At first they were OK with our situation because they know Stuart is a good sailor but I think as time moved on they started to get more concerned and so did I,” said Davison. “We kept getting hit by storms but we managed to get out of them with no real problems. But I knew we were riding our luck and we wouldn’t be able to go on for much longer.”

Click here to read more on this story from Sky News.

British Couple Saved After 40 Days Stranded At Sea

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HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant are understood to have both been severely damaged in the underwater accident earlier this month.

Both are fitted with state-of-the-art technology aimed at detecting other submarines, but it apparently failed completely.

Although both France and Britain insist that security was not compromised during the collision and there was no danger of a nuclear incident, inquiries are now under way in both countries.

Each boat is a key part of their respective county’s nuclear deterrent, ready to unleash their destructive weapons at a moment’s notice.

French Navy sources confirm that Le Triomphant, one of four strategic nuclear submarines of the so-called “Force de Frappe”, was returning from a 70 day tour of duty when the incident occurred.

It happened in heavy seas, and in the middle of the night between February 3 and 4, and left Le Triomphant’s sonar dome all but destroyed.

The sonar dome should have detected the Vanguard but Le Triomphant’s crew of 101 claimed to have “neither saw nor heard anything”.

The French tried to play down the collision, with a Navy spokesman saying: “The collision did not result in injuries among the crew and did not jeopardise nuclear security at any moment.”

The Ministry of Defence would not even confirm it had taken place. A spokesman said: “It is MoD policy not to comment on submarine operational matters, but we can confirm that the UK’s deterrent capability has remained unaffected at all times and there has been no compromise to nuclear safety.”

Le Triomphant took at least three days to limp back to her home port, while HMS Vanguard returned to her home base in Faslane, in Scotland.

With a complement of 135 crew, she is the lead boat of the Vanguard class of submarines which carry Trident ballistic missiles around the world.

Le Triomphant is also the lead ship in her own class of Triomphant nuclear submarines.

Each carries 16 M45 ballistic missiles, weighs 35 tons each, carries six warheads and has a range of around 5,000 miles.

France’s Atlantic coast is notorious for being a “submarine graveyard” because of the number of underwater craft, mainly German U-boats, sunk in the area during the Second World War.

British and French nuclear submarines collide in Atlantic

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Continue reading »]]> Up to 200 motorists found themselves trapped on a road in Devon last night after three inches of snow fell in an hour.

Firefighters were called to a “major incident” on the A38 near Exeter at around 9pm, after a line of cars became stuck on Telegraph Hill in blizzard conditions. As the snow continued unabated, many drivers were forced to abandon their vehicles and seek refuge for the night in nearby hotels. Around two feet of snow had fallen by midnight, leaving other roads in the vicinity equally impassable.

One of the motorists, Sue Bullock, told how she had been trapped in her car for more than three hours. She said: “We are sitting here just waiting for someone to rescue us.”

Devon and Cornwall Police said the A38 was closed shortly after 9pm after “significant heavy snow”, and that up to 200 vehicles remained stuck on the hill. A spokesman said: “We have a reference centre open and we’ve got multiple localities for the rest of the force, with vehicles stuck. That is the only update as we are still assessing.”

Last night’s drama came shortly after weather forecasters had warned that harsh weather would return to London and the South-east today, with stocks of gritting salt already at critical levels. Forecasters warned that up to eight inches of snow could fall across southern and South-east England, including the capital, in the early hours of today before reaching the Midlands and East Anglia. Other parts of the country were still coping with disruption caused by snow on Wednesday night.

Two walkers died in freezing weather in the Lake District as snowfall across the West Country, Wales and Northern Ireland caused chaos on motorways and at airports including Luton and Belfast. The M4, M5 and M1 suffered closures and hundreds of schools were shut in Wales.

The forecast that the heavy snow could continue into the weekend gave added weight to concerns that dwindling levels of salt needed to de-ice roads is causing accidents and endangering drivers. The AA said the decision by some local authorities to cut back on the number of routes treated was turning roads into “death traps”.

Britain’s two main rock salt producers have said they are working at maximum capacity but admit there is a backlog in delivering supplies. Cleveland Potash, the second-largest supplier, said it had arranged for 40,000 tonnes of salt to be imported from a sister mine in Spain to meet demand.

County councils in Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Ceredigion as well as Swindon borough council confirmed they were only treating main roads. The Highways Agency said it had three to four days of supplies left to grit motorways and A roads. One district council in South Wales accused the Highways Agency of “blocking” its order for supplies, forcing it to close three mountain roads.

In Worcestershire, the lack of gritting salt caused the closure of the county’s schools after the council said it could not clear access roads: “In view of the snowfall and the fact the county council has insufficient salt to grit and clear the roads, Worcestershire County Council are closing all schools today.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, left a message on his Twitter page yesterday afternoon, telling readers: “Have spent the afternoon with TfL [Transport for London] making sure everything is prepared for the big dump tonight if it comes.” Half an hour later, he added: “For all those of you feeling mischievous when I said dump I was referring to the snow.”

Forecasters said a band of weather from Devon to London crossing the country in the early hours of today could bring snow in similar quantities to that seen in the capital and the South-east on Monday.

The freezing weather appears to have claimed two lives in the past 24 hours, both in the Langdale area of the Lake District. The body of a missing walker was found by mountain rescue teams and another walker died after falling more than 100ft when he slipped on ice.

Forecasters warned that up to eight inches of snow could fall across southern and South-east England, including the capital, in the early hours of today before reaching the Midlands and East Anglia. Other parts of the country were still coping with disruption caused by snow on Wednesday night.

Two walkers died in freezing weather in the Lake District as snowfall across the West Country, Wales and Northern Ireland caused chaos on motorways and at airports including Luton and Belfast. The M4, M5 and M1 suffered closures and hundreds of schools were shut in Wales.

The forecast that the heavy snow could continue into the weekend gave added weight to concerns that dwindling levels of salt needed to de-ice roads is causing accidents and endangering drivers. The AA said the decision by some local authorities to cut back on the number of routes treated was turning roads into “death traps”.

Britain’s two main rock salt producers have said they are working at maximum capacity but admit there is a backlog in delivering supplies. Cleveland Potash, the second largest supplier, said it had arranged for 40,000 tonnes of salt to be imported from a sister mine in Spain to meet demand.

County councils in Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Ceredigion as well as Swindon borough council confirmed they were only treating main roads. The Highways Agency said it had three to four days of supplies left to grit motorways and key A roads. One district council in South Wales accused the Highways Agency of “blocking” its order for supplies, forcing it to close three mountain roads.

In Worcestershire, the lack of gritting salt caused the closure of the county’s schools after the council said it could not clear access roads: “In view of the snowfall and the fact the county council has insufficient salt to grit and clear the roads, Worcestershire County Council are closing all schools today.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, left a message on his Twitter page yesterday afternoon, telling readers: “Have spent the afternoon with TfL [Transport for London] making sure everything is prepared for the big dump tonight if it comes.” Half an hour later, he added: “For all those of you feeling mischievous when I said dump I was referring to the snow.”

Edmund King, president of the AA, said: “This is a very serious situation with some roads becoming death traps. The Government should step in to assess the situation and ensure that salt stocks are maintained in places at immediate risk from snow and ice.” The motoring organisation said its insurance arm had seen a 56 per cent increase in claims for shunts.

One MP said preparations for the extreme weather had been shown to be “woefully inadequate”. Rosie Cooper, Labour MP for Lancashire West, said it was clear councils were gritting fewer roads each year. Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary, said buying snow ploughs and storing extra gritting salt would be an expensive way of dealing with such unusual weather.

The Met Office confirmed there would be little respite from the extreme conditions, which are providing the coldest winter in Britain in a decade. A severe weather warning was issued last night for heavy snow in southern and central England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Forecasters said a band of weather from Devon to London crossing the country in the early hours of today could bring snow in similar quantities to that seen in the capital and the South-east on Monday.

The freezing weather appears to have claimed two lives in the past 24 hours, both in the Langdale area of the Lake District. The body of a missing walker was found by mountain rescue teams and another walker died after falling more than 100ft when he slipped on ice.

Hundreds of motorists stranded after fresh blizzards sweep in – This Britain, UK – The Independent

Continue reading »]]> Snow and harsh winter conditions were causing disruption across the UK today, with some councils warning that salt and grit supplies were running low.

Further problems were expected for public transport, schools and businesses with severe weather warnings in place in south Wales, north Devon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire today as snow continued to fall.

Forecasters said the worst of the weather was likely to be in the Midlands with as much as 10cm (4in) of snow, however the south and west of England and Wales ground to a halt today after waking up to their heaviest falls of snow this week.

The M4, particularly around Bristol and Swindon, the M5 and the M1 in the south Midlands were badly affected. Runways at Luton and East Midlands airports were closed, there were bus and train cancellations in Bristol and drivers were stranded in snow in the Cotswolds.

Thousands of pupils were told to stay at home again today, with schools in Wales, the Midlands, the West Country and counties just north of London worst affected. More than 600 schools closed in Wales, 300 in the Cotswolds and a quarter of all schools in Birmingham. More than 200 schools have now been closed in Aberdeenshire and rural counties in north-east Scotland, and the eastern Highlands in the Cairngorms.

In Northern Ireland 32 schools were closed.

Some councils are becoming increasingly worried about stocks of salt and have begun to limit its use to major roads. Britain’s biggest salt supplier, the Cheshire-based Salt Union, said staff were working round the clock but still could not meet demand.

“We have been operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week since the beginning of January and are extracting 30m kilograms a week, but the unexpected and unusual weather means that even working at this level, demand is outstripping supply,” the firm said.

Cleveland Potash, the Highways Agency’s second supplier, said it had arranged for 40,000 tonnes of salt to be imported from its sister mine in Spain to meet the increased demand.

The agency – which is responsible for England’s motorways and A-roads – said it was confident it had enough salt in its depots to keep routes ice-free.

Worcestershire county council said it had “insufficient salt” to clear the roads.

Gloucestershire county council has just over 850 tonnes left. “We estimate there is enough for the next two weeks, based on current forecast and restricting the network,” said a council spokesman.

Hertfordshire county council, one of the councils that has admitted stocks are running low, said it was seeking additional supplies from abroad. Other councils saving their salt for main roads include Ceredigion in Wales, which said Salt Union had told it not to expect further deliveries.

Two walkers have died in two days after both ventured out in icy conditions in the Lake District. Cumbria police said one body, believed to be that of a missing 60-year-old man, had been found today below Climber’s Traverse on Bowfell. He has not yet been formally identified. Another man in his 60s who fell 100 metres at Pavey Ark in Great Langdale yesterday died after being airlifted to hospital, police said.

All flights to and from Luton airport were halted this morning after the volume of snow that fell overnight took staff by surprise. There were heavy delays on the approach roads to the airport, with one motorist saying it took him four hours to move 20 yards.

An airport spokeswoman said staff had been trying to clear the snow since 3am. “The sheer volume of snow that came down was not expected,” she said.

George Best airport in Belfast was shut for four hours this morning and 10 flights were cancelled.

In the Highlands and north-east Scotland, a number of routes have been closed after up to eight inches of snow fell overnight, worsening the extremely difficult driving conditions.

The main road to Inverness and the Highlands, the A9, was closed between Aviemore and Inverness, while the A96 was shut between Keith and Inverurie, with other routes shut by snow, accidents and fallen trees. Police in Aberdeen warned of severe congestion in the city, while Aberdeen airport’s runway was closed.

The train operator First Great Western said services between London and south Wales and Bristol were subject to delays. Chiltern Railways said delays of up to 30 minutes could be expected on all routes to and from London Marylebone during the morning peak hours, while Aylesbury Vale Parkway station was closed.

CrossCountry reported similar half-hour delays on all routes via Birmingham New Street during the morning peak hours. Services between Inverness and Aberdeen were subject to alterations and cancellations and customers were “strongly advised” not to attempt to travel.

Virgin Trains services on all routes to and from London Euston were subject to delays of up to 30 minutes due to speed restrictions.

Wrexham & Shropshire railways reported delays of up to 30 minutes on all routes to and from London Marylebone during the morning peak hours.

Commuter services in London have largely returned to normal. A Transport for London spokeswoman said it was “business as usual” and any disruption to trains, tubes and buses was not weather-related.

Saturday is expected to be cold but sunny in inland areas and Sunday could bring more sleet and snow.

Snowy weather’s latest wave brings delay and disruption | UK news | guardian.co.uk

Continue reading »]]> The heavy snow that disrupted the lives and businesses of millions of people this week will continue to cause problems as treacherous weather moves across the country, forecasters have warned.

Northern Scotland, Wales and south-western parts of England and the south coast are at the greatest risk of further snow later in the week, according to the Met Office. Conditions in the areas worst hit by Monday’s snow – the most widespread in the UK for 18 years – are likely to remain dangerous as the roads turn icy with a drop in temperature.

The Highways Agency said most big roads and motorways were open and clear yesterday but advised postponing all but essential journeys in the worst-affected areas.

The country’s transport system began to get back to normal today. In London there was a good service on all underground lines and buses were running, though some were diverted away from icy roads. A Transport for London spokesperson said it was “business as usual”.

BAA said it expected to operate a “near-normal service” at airports up and down the country today. However, at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports, “some flights may be subject to delay or cancellation following the knock-on effect of adverse weather conditions in England on Monday”. Passengers have been advised to contact their airline for further information.

The National Rail website says there may still be some delays on First Great Western, Southern and Southeastern trains. A small number of trains have been cancelled.

Helen Chivers, a forecaster for the Met Office, said that although much of Britain would have a brighter day today, showers could be expected, especially in western areas, with a wintry mix of rain and sleet or snow.

The lowest recorded temperature yesterday morning was minus 10.1C (13.8F) in Chesham, Buckinghamshire. The most snow, 31cm (12in), was recorded in Epsom, Surrey, as day broke.

The West Country and Wales bore the brunt of yesterday’s chaos. Lorries ground to a halt on hilly stretches in Cornwall and motorists abandoned cars stuck in drifts.

Hospitals cancelled outpatient appointments, and home help for hundreds of elderly people was halted because the roads were judged too dangerous. Refuse collections were scrapped.

There was consolation for winter sports enthusiasts. Skiers were spotted in Truro and in Hayle, near St Ives, and Horsforth Hall park on the edge of Leeds unexpectedly hosted its first langlauf skiing event, between the snowmen and the sledges. “We’ve been here before,” said Martin Appleby, of the Yorkshire Dales Cross Country Ski Club, “but only for sessions on roller blades round the cycling track.”

First buses, which covers south and west Wales, said all its vehicles were off the road. Police in Wales warned that minor roads, especially those over high ground, were especially hazardous. The A465 at Aberdulais, south Wales, was described as treacherous after a lorry came off the road at a roundabout in the early hours.

One motorist died at Sandy Bridge, Llanelli, on Monday evening, but police believe he died of natural causes.

Yorkshire and the north-east breathed a sigh of relief yesterday after predictions of further heavy snow proved wide of the mark. Weather patterns steered the worst of the downfall away to the north-west, affecting mainly sheep and scattered farms on the high Pennines.

Among them was Stott Hall Farm, a well-known smallholding on Moss Mire moor between the carriageways of the M62, where all-night gritting kept traffic flowing throughout the day.

The higher and narrower A66 between Teesside and Penrith, which was the only major trans-Pennine route to be closed on Monday, reopened after snowploughs from both east and west forced a way through.

Train services on the east coast mainline struggled back towards the normal half-hourly service between King’s Cross in London and the north of England and Scotland, but there were frequent hiccups and delays.

Among the passengers waiting at King’s Cross was 61-year-old Carol Hughes, who had had to be put up in London overnight on Monday.

“There were hardly any trains and no buses, so we just gave up. They’re allowing us to use our original tickets, but one train’s already been cancelled,” she said. “We’re getting another soon, but I think it’s mad in this day and age that we come to a standstill in a city like London. In Sheffield we experience much worse weather but things still move.”

The actor Julia Roberts was among hundreds of passengers stranded at Manchester airport because of the heavy snow gripping the south. Her flight from India to Gatwick was one of 13 diverted from airports in the south, which closed or restricted services.

At Heathrow yesterday morning thousands of passengers had spent an uncomfortable night spent on the floor. The airport had shut down because of the snow and about 800 flights were cancelled. Yesterday, 74 inbound flights and 76 departures were cancelled.

At Gatwick, just six flights were cancelled, and Stansted was operating a normal schedule, said the airports operator BAA. The cross-Channel train service Eurostar also reported cancellations and delays.

Scotland, unusually, had escaped the worst of the weather, but more than 270 flights were cancelled at Scottish airports on Monday as flights to and from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen suffered a knock-on effect from closed airports further south. Yesterday, 19 flights to and from the three Scottish cities were cancelled, said BAA.

Monday saw the heaviest snowfall to hit the UK since 1991. The weather has been blamed for the deaths of two brothers on Snowdon on Monday. Christopher McCallion, 29, and his brother James, 35, are understood to have been training for endurance events when they fell about 330m in freezing conditions from a notorious blackspot on the mountain’s west side, at Clogwyn Coch.

More snow, ice and disruption on the way for Britain | UK news | guardian.co.uk

Continue reading »]]> Torrential rain caused flash floods across much of the UK over the weekend, inundating hundreds of homes and claiming the life of an elderly motorist whose car was swamped by nearly three feet of water.

At one point, there were more than 300 flood warnings in place, with south-western England accounting for about a third of incidents. The Midlands, South Coast and parts of Wales and Scotland were also affected.

The body of the 86-year-old man and his Ford car were found floating in a deep pool on a road near Martock in Somerset. A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Constabulary said: “It looks as if he had got out of the car to walk away from the floods and got into difficulties.” He is thought to have drowned or succumbed to hypothermia after being swept off his feet. In Dorset, a 22-year-old woman died when her car crashed off the A35 road near Poole during heavy rain.

Across Devon and Somerset, 30 motorists had to be rescued from their cars and more than 200 houses were flooded with up to four feet of water in lower-lying areas. Water levels subsided as the skies cleared, but more bad weather was forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday.

Emergency services admitted they were “very stretched” at times with calls for help coming in every few minutes at the height of the crisis. Rail lines between London and the South-west were also affected, with suspensions and “severe delays”, although yesterday afternoon services between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads were fully operational and problems between Paddington and Taunton, Exeter St Davids, Plymouth and Penzance were listed as “cleared”.

Chard, Ilminster, Shepton Mallet, Glastonbury and Street experienced some of the heaviest downpours and almost all the houses in one Somerset street – Hempitts Road in the village of Walton – were flooded yesterday. Residents Jane and Tony Bird said their 11-year-old son, Jack, who was sleeping on a mattress downstairs with friends, woke up to find he was floating. In Dorset, 18 homes in Rowan Close, Southill, Weymouth, were flooded by several inches of water.

Firefighters in Wales were kept busy with calls to flooding in the Fishguard area; a block of flats in Emsworth, Hampshire, was evacuated when a 50ft branch fell, crushing two cars; a woman was rescued from the roof of a car after flooding in Crewe; and in Scotland, 100 sheep “huddled” on high, dry ground in a field near Perth, after the river Earn burst its banks, were rescued.

Figures obtained by the Conservatives from the Environment Agency showed the number of properties at risk of flooding has gone up from 1.9 million in 2001 to an estimated 2.3 million in 2006, which the party described as “a resounding call to action”.

The shadow Floods minister Anne McIntosh called on the Government to take action. “More and more people are living with the worry that heavy rainfall might flood their home. With 2.3 million properties now at risk it is vital that the Government takes the steps necessary to ensure that people, homes and businesses are better equipped to deal with flooding emergencies.” Sir Michael Pitt’s review of last year’s devastating floods made recommendations for dealing with flooding events, which he said should be treated as seriously as terrorism or pandemic flu threats. A spokesman for the Environment Department said: “Defra has increased flood defence spending to a total of £2.15bn over the next three years, and £20m of this is being brought forward to next year to help those homes most at risk.”

The Independent

Continue reading »]]> Heavy rain has left hundreds of homes flooded in parts of Britain and is being blamed for a road accident which left a woman dead.

Dual carriageways in both Devon and Somerset were under up to 18in (46cm) of water, trees down and people trapped in their cars.

A Dorset Police spokesman said officers were investigating whether the weather was a factor in an accident on the A35 at Upton, Poole, which left a 22-year-old Poole woman dead.

The Vauxhall Astra left the road at 2.05am and hit fencing close to the Bakers Arms roundabout. A female passenger, also 22, escaped injury in the accident.

Around 270 homes are thought to be flooded in Somerset, with most of the problems concentrated in the southern third of the county.

The Devon and Somerset control centre said it had received one emergency call every two or three minutes since 5am with some homes under 4ft of water.

A fire service spokeswoman said: “We’ve had 270 calls since 2am and most of those are relating to flooded homes. In Ilminster most of the main roads going in were impassable a few hours ago.

“We are getting to properties but we are having to queue incidents because there’s such a large volume.”

One Somerset street – Hempitts Road, in the village of Walton – has seen most of its houses flooded.

Residents Jane and Tony Bird told BBC Somerset their 11-year-old son, Jack, who was sleeping on a mattress downstairs with friends, woke up “floating”.

Silver and Bronze Command centres have been set up in the county to deal with the situation.

The Environment Agency had 68 flood warnings in place for the South West this morning. One severe warning was in place on the River Lyd, near Lydney in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

Times Online

Continue reading »]]> Large parts of Britain are braced for possible flooding ahead of a predicted downpour.

Forecasters said “exceptionally heavy rain” is expected to fall in the Midlands, East Anglia and Wales. Gale force winds are also set to lash coastal areas.

Byron Chalcraft, a Met Office forecaster, said: “Exceptionally heavy rain is expected, with 50 to 80mm (3in) in places and perhaps in excess of 100mm (4in) locally. The heavy rain could lead to flooding in some areas and cause disruption to outdoor events and transport networks.”

Mr Chalcraft said the rain, expected to fall throughout Sunday morning, could have had far more serious consequences had it arrived earlier.

“We’ve had a good dry period recently,” he said. “Had this occurred a couple of weeks ago – before we had the dry period and when river levels were higher – it could have been a lot worse.”

The Environment Agency has placed 16 rivers under flood watch – 14 in the north west, one in the Midlands and one in Wales.

Forecasters said the week ahead was likely to offer more unsettled spells and showers, although temperatures were likely to be above average.

The Press Association: Britain bracing for floods