The rain that has caused flooding, destruction and evacuations throughout the
U.K. and Ireland will ease today, but more rain is in store for the area
tomorrow.
The downpours that swept across parts of northwestern England and southwestern
Scotland caused flooding, collapsed bridges, blocked roads, closed schools and
forced the evacuation of several hundred people, with others needing to be
rescued by authorities.
A search is being conducted for a missing police officer following a bridge
collapse in Cumbria, North West England. Several other bridges in the area gave
way under the weight of the excessive water, according to RSOE.
In Cumbria, the town of Keswick had 4.41 inches (112 mm) of rain Thursday into
Thursday night. Nearby St. Bees had 1.73 inches (44 mm), and Walney Island had
about an inch (25.4 mm).
Helicopters and lifeboats are being used in the U.K. and Ireland to evacuate
stranded people from their homes as water levels in some towns rose
considerably in just minutes.
"In the space of about five minutes from there being puddles on the main street
there was about an inch of water right across it, and then it rose very
quickly," a witness in Cumbria town of Cockermouth told BBC radio. "Within a
very short space of time people were wading knee-deep and then belly-deep. And
it was going up so fast it actually got very scary. The rate of increase was
quite frightening."
These storms have added considerable problems for both Ireland and the U.K., as
both have received above-normal rainfall this month.
Many cities, including Birmingham, Edinburg, Belfast and Manchester, have all
received more than twice their normal rainfall so far this November.
Story by AccuWeather.com's Gina Cherundolo
© 2009 AccuWeather, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
AccuWeather.com is a registered trademark of AccuWeather, Inc.
Terms of usage under which this service is provided.
Privacy Statement
192.168.77.132 | SCWC
Subscribers sign-in to AccuWeather Premium | AccuWeather Professional | AccuWeather RadarPlus
Not a Member? Read all about Premium, Professional, RadarPlus, and LightningPlus
RSS Feeds Available 
Podcasts Available 
Blogs Available
This page may contain Mapping and GPS Navigation Systems provided by GeoMicro, Inc.
