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Flood defences are being deployed on homes after the River Derwent broke its banks in Cumbria, England.
Flood defences are being deployed on homes after the River Derwent broke its banks in Cumbria, England. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Flood defences are being deployed on homes after the River Derwent broke its banks in Cumbria, England. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Flood risk for parts of UK as heavy rain hits Cumbria and Scotland

This article is more than 2 years old

Environment agency and Met Office tell swaths of England, Scotland and Wales to brace for more rain

Swaths of the UK have been told to brace for more heavy rain this weekend amid warnings of further flooding.

The Environment Agency had a dozen flood warnings and 39 flood alerts across parts of north, south-west and southern England on Saturday.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency had 11 flood alerts and four flood warnings in place and Natural Resources Wales had three flood warnings and 25 flood alerts.

Meanwhile, the Met Office had two yellow warnings in place, meaning some disruption is possible, across southern and north-west England, south and north Wales and southern Scotland. They said affected areas could see 20-30mm of rain in a short space of time, localised flooding and heavy winds on Saturday night going into Sunday.

“Travelling conditions will be quite tricky through tomorrow morning and a lot of Sunday,” said Met meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth.

A clean-up effort is under way in Cumbria and southern Scotland after they were hit by localised floods.

In Cumbria, about 40 homes were flooded as a result of torrential rain and dozens of roads were closed. Since Wednesday, Cumbria has seen up to 450mm of rain – the average for the whole of October is about 160mm.

Meanwhile, in Annan, south-west Scotland, two historic footbridges were washed away as river levels hit a 50-year high.

The rail line between Dumfries and Carlisle was shut down and four people had to be rescued on the Whitesands in Dumfries.

In the south-west of England, Devon and Cornwall saw heavy rain on Thursday night causing flooding and disruption.

The Environment Agency advised the public to “stay on alert”.

Ben Lukey, the agency’s flood duty manager, said: “The public need to stay on alert this weekend and into early next week as surface water and river flooding could still bring disruption in the south-west as well as parts of northern England.

“Environment Agency teams have been out on the ground clearing grilles and screens where flood debris can build up and impede river flows, and stand ready to operate flood defences if needed.”

He also urged residents and visitors in the Lake District to check their flood risk by signing up for government warnings.

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