LONDON — Royal Marines, police and fire teams helped evacuate homes in southwest England after flood defenses were breached, with more heavy rainfall due Friday and today.
In the latest calamity during two months of rain and storms that have drenched the U.K., about 60 homes were evacuated after a flood barrier in Somerset gave way at 1:30 a.m. Prime Minister David Cameron visited the county Friday following criticism that his government cut funds for flood defense and failed to do enough to avert disaster, including dredging riverbeds.
“We have got to do everything we can to help,” Cameron said. “We will be dredging to make sure these rivers can carry a better capacity of water, so there are lessons to be learned and I’ll make sure they’re learned.”
More than 7,500 homes have been engulfed, and coastal defenses battered, since the start of December. The southeast had its wettest January on record, while the east coast was hit by the biggest tidal surge in 60 years, and Wales its highest tides since 1997. All roads to the communities of Muchelney and Thorney in Somerset have been cut off since Christmas Eve.
“This crisis is hugely traumatic for our residents and communities,” Somerset County Council Leader John Osman said.
Threats to the region and beyond persist as the Met Office placed an amber warning, the second-highest, for rain and wind across a swath of southern England through most of today. At 3:15 p.m. local time, the Environment Agency had in place 168 flood warnings with two deemed severe, or a danger to life.
“The public should be prepared for disruption due to flooding,” the Met Office said on its website. “Another band of rain, heavy at times, accompanied by coastal gales will affect southwest England during Friday evening, moving quickly east across other southern areas early (today).”
Cameron’s government says it will spend 130 million pounds ($212 million) of new funds to shore up protection in the next two years. That follows accusations by affected residents and the opposition Labour Party that ministers have responded too slowly and cut funds for flood defenses since taking power.
Environment Agency Chairman Chris Smith, in charge of the defenses, said Friday on his first visit to Somerset since the crisis began in December that he had no plan to resign. Smith was harangued by an angry resident telling him to “sort the rivers out,” British Broadcasting Corp. footage showed.
Smith said that the “most important thing” is to dredge the Tone and Parrett rivers “as soon as possible,” a response to criticism by residents who blame the flooding in part on a lack of recent dredging of the waterways.
