Strong winds and heavy rain across southern UK

March 10, 2008

The southern United Kingdom has experienced heavy rains and strong winds, with approximately 10,000 homes now without power. In addition to damage to property, many journeys have been disrupted, as a result of cancelled flights, in addition to closed roads and rail tracks.

The UK Met Office described the current conditions by saying that "the Met Office continues to expect an intense low pressure system to move east across the UK during Monday, bringing severe gales and potentially damaging gusts across some areas, more particularly the west and south of England and Wales. Southerly winds are expected to strengthen during the early hours of Monday to give severe gales for a time, coinciding with the morning rush hour in some areas."

Anglian region
The Anglian region, which covers the east of England, was issued with one flood watch, meaning that a flood is not likely, but is possible. The warning was issued for the North Norfolk coast at 13:37 UTC yesterday. It was also issued with given one all clear yesterday. Neither the flood watch nor the all clear has been removed, although no major damage has been removed.

North East region
The North East region, which covers the north east of England, was previously issued with four flood watches, although that number has now increased.. The first warning, which covered the areas between Whitby and Filey was issued at 12:20 UTC on Saturday, with the next warning, which covered the area surrounding the Lower River Ouse, being issued approximately nine hours later. The third and fourth warnings were both issued at approximately 9:40 UTC yesterday, with the warnings covering the areas surrounding the Upper River Ouse and Lower River Ouse. Two all clears were also issued, the first covered the North Sea at Scarborough and was issued at 20:37 UTC on Saturday and the second covered the River Ure at Aldwark Bridge, with it being issued at 09:02 UTC yesterday. No major damage has been reported for the North West although ten flood watches and seven flood warnings are in force.

North West region
The North West region, which covers the north west of England, was issued with eleven flood watches. All but one of them were issued yesterday, with the other one being issued on March 7. The warnings covered many areas including the coast at Barrow in Furness and the Wyre Estuary. No major damage has been reported for the North West although six flood watches are still in force.



Southern region
The Southern region, which covers the south of England, was been issued with five flood watches. The warnings covering the Southampton Water Flood Watch Area and the Portsmouth Flood Watch Area were added the most recently, with the warnings for the Milford-on-Sea to Calshot Flood Watch Area, the Isle of Wight coast Flood Watch Area and the Hayling Island Flood Watch Area coming earlier at various times soon after 14:00 UTC yesterday.

According to a spokesperson for the environment agency, "the situation has now improved along parts of the south west and southern coast."

South West region
The South West region, which covers the south west of England, was been issued with 28 warnings. This includes seven severe flood warnings, 13 flood warnings and eight flood watches. The severe flood warning covered large portions of the counties of Cornwall and Devon. Some areas in the region have, however, not been subject to the bad weather, with most of the Bristol area enjoying calm weather, although the nearby Portishead has been issued with a flood warning.

The city of Bristol experienced heavy rain at around 11:00 local time today, although no damage was noticed from this incident. Strong winds caused minor damage to property although the damage was low compared to that in other parts of the country. Other areas of this region have experienced flooding, although some reports are saying that the damage was not as severe as expected.  ''' Floodline.  Call the UK Environment Agency's floodline at 0845 988 1188''' for advice if your area is expected to suffer from flooding.