UK floods: Thames reaches record water levels

Footage shows the army and navy working together to try and build a sandbag barrier along the Thames, as Andy Moore reports

Several water gauges along the River Thames have measured record levels as flood waters continue to rise.

Sixteen severe flood warnings are in place, including 14 in Berkshire and Surrey with police warning 2,500 homes are at risk and two in Somerset.

The Environment Agency is warning of rising water in the Somerset Levels.
Its chairman Lord Smith, has hit back at critics, saying his staff knew "100 times" more about flooding than any politician.

"I have kept my counsel up to now, but when I hear someone criticising the expertise and the professionalism of my staff in the Environment Agency, who know 100 times more about flood risk management than any politician ever does, I'm afraid I'm not going to sit idly by, " he said.
"The Environment Agency is bound by the rules that are laid down by government."
He was speaking after Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said ministers had been given bad advice over river dredging.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, on a visit to Somerset on Monday, also said dredging should have been done over the last few years.
'Danger to life'
Forecasters said Monday would be the driest day of the week but rivers could continue to rise as previous rainfall worked its way downstream.

 

 The Environment Agency says it expects levels on the Thames to rise further, affecting towns such as Marlow

 

Swans investigate a submerged boat on the flooded banks of the River Thames in Chertsey, Surrey

Several Thames gauges are currently showing their highest levels since being installed in the 1980s and 90s.

As well as the Environment Agency's 14 severe warnings - meaning "danger to life" - in areas in and around Staines, Egham, Chertsey and Datchet, there are also a two for the south-west of England in Salt Moor and East Lyng in Somerset.

Prime Minister David Cameron is visiting flood-affected areas in the South West later.

Water levels in the South East are expected to rise despite the fact significant rainfall is not expected during the day.
Dave McKnight, from the Environment Agency, said: "There really is a danger to life in these severe flood warning areas on the Lower Thames. We're still seeing the Thames slowly creeping up."

And councillor Colin Rayner, from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, said: "We need help here. We need the police, we need the Army. We've got 50 volunteers here, we've got the vulnerable people out of their homes, now we need to get everyone else out."

The flooding has also caused severe delays on several train lines.
Robin Gisby, managing director of Network Rail, said his team were watching "several hundred" sites across England carefully and monitoring the situation.

He said: "The Thames is rising now to levels not seen for many, many years.
"What I think is really significant, and it has got worse overnight, is Oxford down to the Thames Valley through Didcot, Reading, Maidenhead and into Paddington.

Robin Gisby, Network Rail: "It is going to be a struggle for passengers"

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This isn't now just flooding, this is groundwater. The land is so saturated we have got water rising up, just as much as flowing on to it. So it is difficult."
'Working around the clock'
In Worcester, large parts of the city centre could be closed for a week because of flooding, the county council has said.

Twenty-nine flood warnings remain in place for the Teme, Wye, Avon and Severn across Herefordshire and Worcestershire and Worcester Bridge has been shut.