Man dies, winds of 100mph batter the UK and Thames is predicted to rise to highest level in 60 years as weather crisis continues unabated

 
Press Association13 February 2014

A man in his 70s has died while trying to move a tree that brought down power cables near Chippenham in Wiltshire today. Meanwhile gusts of 108mph hit the Llyn Peninsula in north Wales and the Thames is predicted to rise to its highest level in 60 years.

The Met Office has issued a "red" weather warning for exceptionally strong winds in western parts of Wales and north-western parts of England on the day that has been dubbed Wild Wednesday. Winds of 96mph winds were recorded off the south coast of England at the Needles, on the Isle of Wight.

The Met Office has forecast 2.75ins of rain by Friday in the already-sodden West Country - more than the region would normally get in the whole of February - with south Wales, western Scotland, Northern Ireland and other parts of southern England also expected to bear the brunt of the deluge.

Windsor, Maidenhead and communities in Surrey have been warned to expect severe disruption and risk of flooding. There are 14 severe flood warnings - meaning there is a danger to life - in the Thames Valley alone.

Some 5,800 properties have now been flooded since early December when the series of winter storms began.

Major General Patrick Sanders, assistant chief of the defence staff, said troops were providing help with resilience, relief and additional manpower for what he described as an "almost unparalleled" natural crisis.

"There's more that we can do and we want to do more wherever we can make a difference, so please use us, that's what we're here for," he said.

Another two severe flood warnings remain in place in Somerset, while the Environment Agency has more than 140 flood warnings and 280 less serious flood alerts in force across England and Wales.

Road and rail travellers have endured another miserable day with wind and rain closing majorrtoutes and wrecking train services.

Virgin Trains took to Twitter to confirm all its services out of London Euston were suspended earlier, urging "all customers to abandon travel".

Later Network Rail said some train services were running out of Euston station to Birmingham and Wolverhampton but with delays.

However there is no service on the West Coast main line north of Nuneaton due to "trees and overhead equipment coming down along the route", a spokeswoman said.

Floods in pictures

1/79

It is not known when services along the route will be resumed, she added.

Problems have been reported at Lichfield near Stafford, Stoke, Crewe, Macclesfield and Stone, according to Network Rail.

A spokesman for Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service said firefighters were called to Crewe train station after roof panels fell on to overhead lines and caused a small fire.

The station was evacuated as a "precaution" and trains were not stopping there, a Network Rail spokeswoman confirmed.

The adverse weather also brought disruption to Premier League football fixtures.

Manchester City's match against Sunderland and Everton's clash with Crystal Palace were both postponed just an hour before kick-off.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in