Major incidents declared as UK hit by snow, ‘severe’ floods & ice as flights suspended and 2 dead in -13C plunge

MAJOR incidents have been declared across the UK as the country is hit by snow, “severe” floods and freezing temperatures.

Weather warnings for snow and ice are once again in force today with more travel disruption and school closures expected.

A yellow alert is in place across most of south-west England and Wales, coastal parts of North Wales and Merseyside and parts of north-west England and the West Midlands, until 10am on Tuesday.

The same warning is in place for western and northern parts of Scotland until midday and in Northern Ireland until 11am.

Last night temperatures of -13.3°C were recorded in Loch Glascarnoch in the Scottish Highlands.

A critical incident has been declared by East Midlands Ambulance for the first time ever with flooding partly responsible for the “level of escalation”.

A major incident was declared by authorities in Lincolnshire on Monday night with a warning that more flooding could strike on Tuesday.

Lincolnshire Resilience Forum said 40 flood warnings and 29 flood alerts were in place across the county with reports of 62 properties “internally flooded”.

“We are keeping a really close watch on this as it develops because we know that there might potentially be more flooding, particularly in areas which may be affected by tidal waters,” a statement said.

It also said emergency services were on standby at Greatford, near Stamford, to monitor the West Glen River which it said threatened to inundate 49 properties in the area.

The Environment Agency has issued a severe, ‘danger to life’, flood warning for the River Soar covering caravan parks near Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire.

There are also 198 flood warnings and 300 flood alerts across England.

Commuters suffered travel misery on Monday with major roads closed and railway lines blocked.

Travel chaos continued this morning with Bristol Airport suspending all flights due to the weather conditions.

In a post online, Bristol Airport said: “Passenger announcement, due to the ongoing weather conditions all flights have been currently suspended until 07:30, further announcements will be made once information is available.”

Firefighters in Leicestershire rescued 59 people while the body of a man was recovered from an area of flooding in North Yorkshire.

Police said the man has been formally identified but efforts to trace his next of kin were ongoing.

The force added that there are currently no suspicious circumstances surrounding the discovery.

A seven-month-old baby also tragically died after a crash on the A1 on Friday.

At a Lincolnshire primary school, parents were told to stay away until the end of the day with fire brigade vehicles ready to carry children through floodwater.

Hundreds of schools were closed across the country, in areas including Lancashire, Yorkshire and north-east Scotland.

In the Commons, environment minister Emma Hardy told MPs flooding was “a personal priority” for her.

She added that the Environment Agency was particularly concerned about Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire.

Warning of further “localised” flooding to come over the next 24 to 36 hours, she pledged to overhaul the Government’s approach to funding flood defences.