Further flood misery across Southern England by Steph Ball
The Environment Agency has 9 Severe Flood warnings still in effect today, Monday, with some river levels yet to reach their peak after the torrential rains which fell on Friday and Saturday. Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire are the areas most at risk, with many parts already lying under water.
Gloucestershire and Worcestershire were the worst affected areas over the weekend, with the rivers Avon and Severn bursting their banks and cutting off the town of Tewkesbury completely.
Severn Trent Water were forced to cut off water supplies to 150,000 homes as a water treatment plant in Tewkesbury became flooded and inoperable. With the possibility of no water for more than 72 hours, this triggered some panic buying of bottled water.
To add to the misery, electricity supplies were also cut off to more than 40,000 homes in Gloucestershire as a major electricity substation became threatened by rising waters.
The River Severn is said to have reached the highest level seen since the floods of 1947. With levels still rising and with further rain forecast for today, the flooding situation may worsen over the next 24hrs.
