Storm Babet flooding sees severe warnings as hundreds evacuate

Residents of some 500 homes in a Nottinghamshire town have been urged to evacuate due to flooding caused by Storm Babet.

Nottinghamshire County Council declared a major incident and told people in Retford they were at risk over high water levels along the River Idle.

The river reached record levels on Sunday, with water still rising.

More flooding is possible for parts of England until Wednesday due to further rain, the Environment Agency has said.

Areas along the River Severn, Britain’s largest river, will be affected in the coming days, and the agency is warning that widespread flooding is probable in parts of the Midlands and the North of England on Sunday.

Two severe flood warnings – meaning there is a danger to life – are in place in the Retford area.

Retford resident Brendan Hunt was forced to evacuated his home and fears the damage to his property from flooding “could be endless”.

“[The water] is still right up to the threshold of the front door,” he told the PA News Agency.

He said that he was at home moving as many of his possessions as possible upstairs until the early hours of Sunday, adding that he believes he will have to replace all of his downstairs flooring if the water gets in.

Water levels in the River Idle are expected to peak at 20:00 BST on Sunday.

A temporary shelter has been set up at Retford Leisure Centre to help residents affected by the “unprecedented” situation, Nottinghamshire County Council said.

There were also record-breaking water levels in the River Derwent nearby in Derbyshire this weekend, with authorities warning that cleaning up after the floods could take days.

Meanwhile, a woman in her 80s, named by her son as Maureen Gilbert, has died in Chesterfield after her home was flooded.

Paul Gilbert said emergency services had tried to rescue Mrs Gilbert on Friday but were unable to enter the property. Mr Gilbert found his mother in the water the following morning.

Derbyshire Police said the cause of her death remained uncertain but investigations were continuing.

In other developments:

The Environment Agency has warned flooding along major rivers in England could continue for days due to further heavy rain.

Parts of Yorkshire and the Humber and the East Midlands may see more flooding on Monday, the agency said.

Katharine Smith, flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said teams are on the ground helping local communities.

“Temporary defences, including pumps and barriers, have been deployed to minimise the impact of flooding where needed,” she said.

“Flood gates have also been closed in affected areas. We also advise people to stay away from swollen rivers and urge people not to drive through flood water as just 30cm of flowing water is enough to move your car.”

BBC Weather forecaster Gemma Plumb said: “There were a number of places in north and east England, and in Scotland, that saw at least a month’s worth of rain in a few days as a result of Storm Babet, with one or two places seeing closer to twice the average monthly rainfall – one of which was Wattisham in Suffolk.”

But Met Office spokesman Dave Britton said those worst affected by the flooding could see “a couple of quieter days”.

He added there were no Met Office weather warnings in force for the remainder of the week, except for one on ice in Scotland on Sunday night.

“There is this pulse of rain moving its way north overnight later on Monday and into Tuesday, but the rest of the week does look like it remains rather unsettled with spells of rain at times”, Mr Britton continued.

Experts say climate change makes extreme flooding events more likely because a warming atmosphere increases the chance of intense rainfall.

However, many factors contribute to flooding and it takes time for scientists to calculate how much impact climate change has had on particular weather events – if any.

The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

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