Severe flooding threatened to put a dampener on festive celebrations for hundreds of thousands across the South West of England on Sunday, with weather warnings remaining in place for Christmas Eve.
The Environment Agency has sent more than 110,000 warnings to people across the country who it believes are at risk of flooding.
Travellers journeying to visit family for the holiday period have already faced disrupted train services and road closures. And now further heavy rainfall is forecast Sunday evening and Monday with the Met Office predicting a further 10mm of rain overnight for parts of Devon and Cornwall.
Dozens of communities have been affected by floods, with Lostwithiel in Cornwall and the area around Barnstaple in North Devon amongst the worst hit, along with parts of south Wales.
Homes have been flooded, leaving residents to bail water from their houses and clear-up ruined decorations and presents just before Christmas. Emergency services yesterday rescued several people swept away in their cars.
Heightened flood risk remains across Cornwall, Devon and Somerset throughout Sunday and into Monday.
One Severe Flood Warning which poses, according to the Environment Agency, ‘a risk to life’ remains in place for Helston in Cornwall.
Latest figures show around 400 properties have flooded since Wednesday.
Paul Mustow, Head of Flood Incident Management at the Environment Agency, said: ?We are expecting more flooding overnight into tomorrow and communities across South West England are urged to remain especially vigilant.?
Andy Page, Met Office Chief Forecaster, said although there will be some drier weather through central parts of the UK today more rain is forecast to spread from the South West tonight and tomorrow. This adds a further 10 to 20 mm of rain quite widely across parts of southern Britain, and South West England may see a further 30mm.
“We’d advise people in the areas affected to expect some disruption to travel and take precautions if they are in an area at risk from heavy rain and flooding.?
High flood risk for SW England on Christmas Eve
