Flood warnings remain in place across parts of the country as
police named a woman who was swept to her death amid heavy rainfall in Derbyshire.
Former High Sheriff of Derbyshire Annie Hall died after being caught in floodwater in Darley Dale, near Matlock.
Her body was pulled from the River Derwent in the early hours of Friday as parts of the Midlands and northern
England were battered by a month’s worth of rain in one day.
Some communities were braced for rising waters on Saturday, while other deluged areas were given some respite by sunny weather.Labour leader
Jeremy Corbyn visited a flood-hit community in South Yorkshire and warned the
UK could expect more extreme weather due to climate change.
“Obviously we need much better flood management and prevention schemes,” he said.
“It also means properly funding our
fire and rescue services and properly funding our Environment Agency to deal with this.
“The Environment Agency has lost a fifth of its staff, the fire services have lost more than a fifth of their staff. They’re struggling to cope with this.”
Corbyn visited a street in Conisbrough which is still cut off by floodwater.
Residents told him how water from the nearby River Don rose quickly on Thursday night, inundating a number of their homes in the cul-de-sac.
Alison and James Merritt showed the
Labour leader around their drenched home before he headed off to Doncaster to talk to firefighters involved in the response to the flooding in the area.Following nearly a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours, river flooding is ongoing in parts of central, north & east England. There are 7 severe flood warnings on the River Don. Follow advice from emergency services. Keep yourself & your family safe. For more https://t.co/BpUpnj1mddpic.twitter.com/WekHS4VSgh— Environment Agency (@EnvAgency) November 9, 2019Prime Minister
Boris Johnson visited Matlock in Derbyshire on Friday, where he said the widespread flooding across the UK “is not looking like something we need to escalate to the level of a national emergency”.
Johnson said the government would “certainly stand by ready to help” after the country was hit by a deluge of water described as “almost biblical” by residents in Toll Bar, near Doncaster.
Yorkshire and the Midlands were among the areas worst affected by the heavy downpours on Thursday and Friday.
Sheffield in South Yorkshire received 84mm of rain over 36 hours, which is almost the average monthly rainfall for Yorkshire, the Met Office said.
The flood-hit areas received some respite on Saturday with dry and sunny conditions across eastern England.
There were still seven severe flood warnings in place for England, however, which suggested there was a “danger to life”.
The Environment Agency warnings were in place for the River Don at Barnby Dun, Bently, Fishlake, Kirk Bramwith, Kirk Sandall, South Bramwith and Willow Bridge caravan site.
Another 54 warnings, urging people to take immediate action due to expected flooding, were also in place – along with 74 alerts urging residents to be prepared.
Residents in the small village of Fishlake, South Yorkshire, were advised to evacuate, while police were continuing to monitor rising river levels in Newark, Nottinghamshire.There are #rain warnings in force this afternoon #WeatherAware, although for the north and east plenty of fine #weather is expected pic.twitter.com/htaj6793O9— Met Office (@metoffice) November 9, 2019The first snowfall of the season was also recorded on Saturday in Wales.
Sunday is forecast to be a dry and sunny day across most the UK, with a frosty start expected in some places.
“It’s going to be a bright, sunny, nice, autumnal day,” said Met Office meteorologist Sophie Yeomans.Related... Northern Floods Show Dangers Of Johnson's 'Winter Election' Woman Who Died After Being Swept Away By Floodwater Named