UK floods: Severe weather expected in stricken areas

 
Board members at the Environment Agency have given their full backing to chairman Lord Chris Smith

 Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman asks Lord Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency, if it is time to resign

Yet more severe weather is expected to hit flood-stricken parts of the UK later, as the prime minister continues a tour of the worst-affected areas.

Fourteen severe flood warnings are in place in Berkshire and Surrey, while two remain in Somerset.


The Met Office has issued four yellow warnings - meaning "be aware" - for rain, ice and snow for parts of the UK.

The Environment Agency board, meanwhile, has backed embattled chairman Lord Smith.
Strong winds BBC weather forecaster Laura Gilchrist said Tuesday would be a "kitchen sink day of weather" with "a bit of everything" expected.

 
The prime minister spoke to members of the 39 Engineer Regiment working on Chesil Beach, Dorset, on Monday 
 

Stranded residents in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey, were rescued by fire crews on Monday

 

The Met Office has severe weather warning in place for rain across parts of south Wales and south-west England, cautioning that, "with ongoing flooding in some places, any further rain will only add to the problems".
There are also two warnings of snow for Tuesday - covering Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland - and a warning of ice for Northern Ireland.

And there is a stronger amber warning - meaning "be prepared" - for wind for Wednesday with "possible gusts of 80mph or more in exposed areas" areas of the South West.
Laura Gilchrist said deep areas of low pressure on Wednesday could bring, potentially, the strongest wind so far this winter.
'Major incident'
The warning comes after Monday saw further homes flooded and properties along the River Thames evacuated with warnings that thousands were more at risk.
Residents in one Berkshire village said the scenes were from "a horror movie".

On Monday night, Surrey Police - who have declared "a major incident" - said more than 150 people had been rescued from flooded homes in the previous 24 hours.

The Environment Agency has faced criticism that it has not done enough to help those affected.
Repeated calls for dredging - a process which removes silt from river channels so that water can flow through - were made to government departments by farmers and others in the badly-hit Somerset Levels area at least six months ago, but funding was declined.
Meanwhile, as the prime minister continues his tour of the South West after staying there overnight, Environment Agency board members have written to employees in a show of support.

The letter tells them they had been "consistently impressed by the professionalism, commitment and resilience of staff, managers and directors - and never more so than in last two months".
"So we have been deeply concerned about the recent campaign of criticism, particularly around the handling of flooding in Somerset," it continues.

"We think this criticism is ill-informed and unfair - and we particularly deplore the personal nature of some of it."
The letter said the board members "fully" supported their chairman.
'Extreme forces'
It comes after the prime minister, as well as the chancellor and stand-in floods minister Eric Pickles all declined to offer support to the agency's chairman, Lord Smith, on Monday.

Lord Smith, speaking to BBC Two's Newsnight on Monday night, said "extreme natural forces" had been "having a go at us and we need to find the best possible ways of defending ourselves against them". "We've all made mistakes, everyone has made mistakes".

He again blamed Treasury spending rules which, he says, meant the agency was not allowed to spend any more money on dredging the flood-hit Somerset Levels.
The Treasury has declined to comment.

The Environment Agency has issued about 350 less serious flood warnings and alerts, mostly in southern England and the Midlands.