UK floods: Severe flood warnings issued for Thames

 
The Environment Agency says it expects levels on the Thames to rise further in the next 24 hours

Fourteen severe flood warnings have been issued along the River Thames in Berkshire and Surrey amid concern that people and property are at risk.

The Environment Agency is also warning of rising water in the Somerset Levels, and there are flood fears in Worcester.
Earlier, the communities secretary said ministers may have relied too much on the agency's advice and it had been a "mistake" not to dredge the Levels.

But the agency said its "immediate priority" was to protect people.
Two severe flood warnings remain in place in Somerset and more rain is expected later in the week.
The prime minister, who chaired a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee, tweeted: "With more flooding on the way, I made sure every resource is available to help."

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, who is in charge of the government's flood defence, said the government had relied too much on the Environment Agency's advice and the flood-hit Somerset Levels should have been dredged.

"I apologise unreservedly and I'm really sorry that we took the advice, we thought we were dealing with experts."

But as the agency increased the number of severe warnings from two to 16, it said it was putting all its energy and focus into protecting people and property until the danger has passed.
It said the 14 severe "risk to life" warnings along the Thames in Berkshire and Surrey between Datchet and Shepperton Green were issued because river levels would continue to rise for at least 24 hours and homes were expected to flood.

It also has more than 160 lesser flood warnings, the majority in the South East, the East, the Midlands and South West.
BBC News correspondent Ben Ando in Datchet said the Thames appeared to be rising and its levels were already higher than in 2003 when the area last experienced flooding.

Armed forces are in the area building a 2ft-high (60cm) defence to try to divert the river away from homes.
Tina McFarlane, 70, from the Buckinghamshire town of Marlow, which borders the Thames, said she was confined to the upstairs of her house and was without electricity.

"I can't get out of the house as the water is too deep for my waders, and it's getting dangerous," she told the BBC.
"It's not only the Somerset Levels that are suffering. We're feeling very isolated, no one is giving us any information."
 
Bridge closed
Recent rainfall in the Somerset Levels has meant water levels have increased by about a quarter of an inch (0.6cm) an hour in the village of Burrowbridge.

 

Huge pipes will ease the pressure in the Somerset levels

The main rail route into Devon and Cornwall remains cut off by problems caused by flooding and storm damage, but a line from Somerset to Exeter closed by a landslip at Crewkerne on Saturday has reopened.