UK floods latest: Dad rescued son from sinking car as ‘devastating’ floods cause train and traffic chaos

More than 200 flood alerts remain in place for England and Wales and travel issues are set to continue into the new week.

The last of the Met Office’s rain warnings ended at 11.59pm yesterday but strong winds persist and rain from high ground will reach rivers, which could disrupt clean-up efforts.

The Met Office forecast that rain in the south-east of England will clear today but blustery showers could stick around for the north-west.

Simon Brown, services director at the Met Office, told PA: “Our thoughts are with those who are currently affected with the impacts caused by Storm Bert in South Wales, as well as the rest of the country.”

“Storm Bert was well forecast, 48 hours in advance, with a number of warnings in place ahead of the system reaching the UK.”

Welsh first minister Eluned Morgan said the flood has been “absolutely devastating” as Storm Bert is forecast to continue causing disruption.

“I think this is the second time that many of those have suffered as a result of the storm,” she said.

“There’s been huge investments since the last storm hit, so we’ve managed to protect lots more properties than last time.

“But obviously this is absolutely devastating just before Christmas for those people who have been impacted.”

The Met Office has already confirmed the storm names to be used across 2024 and 2025 – as the UK is hit by Storm Bert.

The new storms list – first launched in 2015 – for each year generally runs from early September until late August the following year, coinciding with the beginning of autumn.

James, Lewis and Mavis are all included in the new list in honour of figures from the Met Office’s 170-year history.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service faced a backlog of 120 emergency calls at the peak of the major incident that was declared as a result of the flooding.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s chief fire officer Fin Monahan told a press conference in Pontypridd that the major incident was declared earlier on Sunday based on the number of calls they were getting and the number of assets they were distributing out on the ground.

He said at the peak there was “120 calls stacked up”, adding: “As soon as we declared the major incident, we were in a position that we were then able to offload those calls onto other neighbouring fire and rescue services who then helped us deal with the call flow.

“We had about 75 per cent of our available assets out on the ground and we’ve had people out on the ground there doing incredible work.”

He said it had been a “very busy morning”, but the rainfall was forecast to subside on Sunday afternoon.

The Environment Agency has warned that “just 30cm of water is enough to float your car”, as it urged motorists not to drive through floodwaters.

More than 400 areas are at risk of flooding in Scotland, England and Wales.

While the rain is set to subside throughout the evening, the Met Office has warned that river levels will continue to rise even after the rain has passed.

Met Office chief meteorologist Andy Page has warned that the forecaster could make rapid changes to weather alerts as Storm Bert continues to batter the UK.

“Impacts from Storm Bert will continue to cause disruption as we go through today, and multiple warnings are in place for wind and rain,” he said.

“While the risk of any snowfall has now diminished, rainfall will affect much of the UK today, in particular some southwestern parts of England and South Wales, but the heaviest rain will ease from these areas through the day.

“The strong southerly winds continue today and warnings are in place for central, southern and eastern England, Northern Ireland and western Scotland where gusts could peak at 60 mph and could even reach more than 70 mph along some exposed coasts.

“Warnings could still be amended, possibly at short notice, so it is important people keep up to date with the very latest forecast.”

An entire bridge under construction after being damaged four years ago during Storm Dennis was washed away during widespread floods in Wales on Saturday night.

The Abercynon Feeder Pipe Footbridge over the River Taff in South Wales, which was being rebuilt after being substantially damaged during Storm Dennis in 2020, was completely washed away, councillor Andrew Morgan, leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf Borough Council, said.

“It was completely washed away last night, so the scaffolding, the piers ... everything has completely gone,” Mr Morgan told a press conference on Sunday afternoon.