Storm Chandra causes major incident and triggers flood warnings across the UK

Hundreds of flood warnings and alerts are in place after Storm Chandra brought heavy rain across the country.

A major incident was declared in Somerset yesterday due to a high risk of flooding in the levels and moors.

This morning, there were 99 flood warnings, where flooding is expected, and 260 flood alerts, where it is possible, across England.

In Wales, there were three flood warnings and 16 flood alerts in place, while there were eight flood warnings and eight flood alerts in place across Scotland.

Katesbridge in Northern Ireland saw 103mm of rain on Tuesday, according to the Met Office.

Yellow weather warnings have been issued for ice on Wednesday morning covering much of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and southern and central Scotland.

A yellow weather warning for rain is also in place for south-west England on Thursday, with the Met Office saying that further rain could bring more flooding and transport disruption.

Somerset Council leader Bill Revans said: ‘The decision to declare a major incident at this stage means we are well placed to respond to this ongoing situation.

‘Storm Chandra brought more than 50mm of rain to parts of Somerset last night, on top of already saturated land, and this has caused widespread disruption. Please avoid travelling if you can and never attempt to drive through flood water.’

Search and rescue workers combed through vehicles on flooded roads in Northern Ireland, Kent and County Durham.

Firefighters in Devon and Somerset rescued people from 25 vehicles in floodwater on Tuesday morning.

A spokesman for Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service confirmed there were no casualties.

Storm Chandra travel delays

Across south-west England, there were multiple road closures because of flooding, which included the A30 in Devon between the B3174/B3180 junctions near Ottery St Mary and the B3184 for Exeter Airport.

The M5 southbound between Cullompton and Exeter was closed on Wednesday morning because of flooding, as was the A303 in Somerset between the A3088 and A37 and the A1 south of Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland.

In Scotland, the A82 north of Spean Bridge was closed southbound because of fallen trees, while the Bridge of Orchy on the A82 was closed to high-sided vehicles.

Storm Chandra also brought disruption to other parts of the South West, the south coast, and north of England, as well as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Domestic flights were cancelled on routes serving Birmingham, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heathrow, Leeds Bradford, London City, Manchester and Southampton airports on Tuesday.

Great Western Railway advised passengers not to travel between Exeter St Davids and both Okehampton and Barnstaple, with services in Somerset and Cornwall cancelled on Wednesday.

ScotRail said speed restrictions were expected to remain on services between Edinburgh, Inverness and Glasgow Queen Street until 10am on Wednesday, while National Rail warned of disruptions until Friday.

Storm Chandra is the latest storm to be named by the western Europe storm naming group list shared between the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands.

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