Storm Franklin: ‘danger to life’ flood warnings in Shropshire and Worcestershire

Two severe “danger to life” flood warnings have been issued in Shropshire and Worcestershire after Storm Franklin brought a day of flooding, power cut misery and travel chaos on Monday.

Parts of the historic village of Ironbridge were being evacuated as the river Severn threatened to overwhelm flood defences, and in Bewdley in Worcestershire, residents were told to expect flooding from Tuesday morning. The Environment Agency urged people to implement emergency flood defence plans and follow evacuation advice.

A further 129 flood warnings were in place as river levels rose across England and Wales.

Matlock town centre in Derbyshire was described as a “river” by local resident Phil Gregory after the Derwent burst its banks. “It’s probably only a foot or two deep in truth, but enough to wreck businesses,” he said. “It’s just really terrible and the rain is continuing.”

The town council described the flooding as devastating and urged people not to visit Matlock. Babington hospital in nearby Belper was under water and forced to close and cancel appointments.

In Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, the main bridge was closed and shops flooded after the River Wharfe overflowed its banks. An Environment Agency spokeswoman said: “We are aware of a small number of flooded properties in Tadcaster and are working closely with the emergency services and other agencies to keep the community safe.”

Train operators urged people on Monday to avoid travel if possible as services in some parts of the country experienced severe disruption and were expected to be halted by gale-force winds and heavy rain.

Southwestern said more than 50 trees had fallen on to the tracks in the last three days. Southeastern said response teams had been “stretched to the limit” and that several lines were unable to operate in and out of London.

Major road bridges were again closed because of high winds, including the Severn Bridge between England and Wales and the Dartford bridge crossing. Two stretches of motorway in north-west England were closed in the morning after incidents involving lorries, including one that overturned on the M60 in Greater Manchester.

Airlines had cancelled 122 flights to and from the UK in the morning, according to data from analysts Cirium. British Airways apologised to customers who had faced additional long waits for luggage at Heathrow as well as flight disruption in the last few days. It said it was unable to operate the machinery needed to unload cases because of the high winds.

It comes only days after Storm Eunice killed at least four people and left 1.4m homes without power.

The energy minister, Greg Hands, on a visit to Kent, said 32,000 households across the UK remained without power.

UK Power Networks, which covers the south-east, London and east of England, said around 12,000 of its customers had yet to have power restored. Basil Scarsella, the CEO, said it had decided to make extra goodwill payments to those worst affected by power cuts.

“This means that if you were impacted by Storm Eunice, you will be eligible to receive £50 after 24 hours without electricity, an additional £70 when you reach 48 hours, and an additional £70 thereafter for every 12 hours without power.”

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On Monday, Northern Rail issued a “do not travel” alert to passengers, while TransPennine Express strongly urged customers to avoid travel if possible, particularly those planning to travel north of Preston in Lancashire before 10am. Great Western Railway urged customers to travel only if absolutely necessary as services were expected to be “significantly disrupted across the network”.

Southwestern Railway also urged customers not to travel, warning that the weather conditions were “likely to hamper efforts to help stranded customers”. National Rail warned anyone making essential journeys once services resumed to expect major disruption to routes across most of the country, including cancellations, delays and slower train speeds.

Met Office meteorologist Becky Mitchell said last week marked the first time that three major storms – Dudley, Eunice and Franklin – had been recorded within seven days since the naming system began in 2015.

The Met Office said Monday’s highest wind speed, 79mph, was recorded at Capel Curig in Wales, followed by 78mph at Orlock Head in Northern Ireland. The worst of the storms are over for now with no weather warnings in place for the coming days. It will, though, be “a blustery week”.

The storms have had calamitous consequences for thousands of trees, including a clone of Isaac Newton’s apple tree that was planted at Cambridge University’s Botanic Garden in 1954.

It fell on Friday during Eunice. A spokesperson for the gardens said: “We have a clone that will be planted elsewhere in the garden soon, so Newton’s Apple will remain in the garden, but sadly not in its accustomed place.”

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