Britain braces for a month's rain 24 hours with flood defences pushed to their limits

Parts of Britain face being battered by a month’s worth of rain in the next 24 hours as the country’s flood defences are pushed to their limits.

It comes as emergency services continue their search for 87-year-old Jean Disney, who is believed to have fallen into the River Exe in Devon in the aftermath of Storm Dennis.

February has already twice seen the month’s total averages of rainfall over a period of up to 48 hours with Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis hitting the UK within seven days of each other.

The Met Office said the wet conditions show no sign of letting up as yellow warnings were issued for already flood-hit north west England and north Wales.

“The average for the whole of Wales for February is 111mm of rain, so it could see up to just under a month’s worth of rain falling in the next 24 hours,” meteorologist John Griffiths said.

The average for north west England is around 97.6mm and the region is also expecting between 70-100mm in the next 24 hours.

Southern Scotland also has a yellow warning issued for rain, and is expected to see 30-40mm of rain today.

It comes as flood barriers are being put to the test in communities where river levels were hitting record highs.

In Bewdley, which straddles the River Severn north of Worcester, the barriers that protect businesses and homes on either bank were enough to keep the water at bay on Wednesday.

The river had been expected to peak of about 5.2 metres – well above normal levels.

The Environment Agency is keeping a close eye on the defences there and in other places along the Severn, including Ironbridge upstream and Upton-upon-Severn downstream.

The barriers in Bewdley have been doing their job, despite a “remarkable” amount of water still working its way down the river channel.

A steady stream of curious onlookers have been drawn to the historic town’s main bridge – currently closed – to see how close the water has come to topping the barriers.

However, Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service has warned people against taking the risk of getting too close to floodwaters simply to get pictures.

“Stay away from flood areas if you don’t have a genuine reason to be there,” the brigade said.

Residents are carrying on as normal despite the water rushing past a few yards away, with businesses open as normal.

The closure of the main road has seen community members setting up a free bus route, with a vintage double-decker taking people from one side of the town.

The water is at its highest level in the town for 20 years, according to the Environment Agency, which is preparing for more rain.

Dave Throup, Environment Agency manager for Herefordshire and Worcestershire, said: “As it stands, our defences are all holding up.

“There’s huge amount of water against them so we’re monitoring that very closely at the moment. But at the moment things are okay at Bewdley.”

Attention is starting to turn to the situation down-river, where levels in Worcester – which had dropped back in the last two days – are expected to rise again.

Mr Throup said: “Further down towards Upton-upon-Severn, we still have severe flood warnings in place there and that’s because we do expect levels to rise again slightly and they are already exceptionally high.

“So we will be monitoring that again very closely through today with staff at Upton.”

As time goes on the water will feed down into Gloucestershire, where “some big levels” are expected later.

“The only saving factor there is there’s not much water coming down the River Avon,” Mr Throup said. “So that may allow things to spread out a little bit.

“Unfortunately it’s not out of the woods, even then, because we’re looking at rainfall for today, tomorrow and right through the weekend, which potentially could affect the tops of the catchments, which is just not where we want to be at all.

“But we will be prepared, so we’re working with our forecasters on that for scenarios going through the weekend.”

Meanwhile, rescue workers searching for Ms Disney have warned others hoping to help not to approach flooded areas.

A spokeswoman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: “These searches are currently confined to the River Exe, as evidence at this time has strongly indicated that Jean fell into the water in the early hours of Monday 17 February.

“Police are aware that local residents and concerned members of the public have been organising their own searches.

“Officers strongly urge anyone wishing to assist not to approach any areas immediately adjacent to the river, or any other flooded areas.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 999, quoting log number 63 of February 17.

Read more

Hundreds of homes underwater as communities brace for more heavy rain