UK Weather: Flooding Causes Road Closures In South West And Midlands (PICTURES)

Floody Hell! Weather Causes Road Closures In South West And Midlands

Heavy rains have flooded roads and forced dozens of schools across the south west of England to close.

Bands of heavy rain have moved across England and Wales over the last 24 hours, causing some localised flooding and forcing the Environment Agency to issue 89 warnings across England.

The BBC reports some villages are "impassable", with Yealmpton and Tamerton Foliot in Devon cut off.

Cars make their way through floods in the village of Norton near Worcester

Nora Tisdall told the BBC her daughter could not get to work, saying: "The stream is pouring out over the road like a waterfall. The village is totally impassable. I've lived here 21 years and I've never seen it flood."

In most cases, access roads were blocked and deemed impassable, preventing staff and parents from arriving at school.

Twelve schools in Devon were closed and 17 in Somerset, two of the worst-hit counties.

A statement from North Curry C of E Primary School, east of Taunton in Somerset, said: "The village and roads leading in are flooded and only a couple of staff members can get in.

Traffic struggles through floodwater on Lapas Lane near Halesowen today

"Also, parents cannot get the children through the floods. It is treacherous and the rain shows no sign of easing."

In the South East, there are seven flood alerts in force and there are likely to be more issued throughout the day as the region's rivers respond to the rainfall, the Environment Agency said.

Overnight there was 20-25mm of rainfall in the far west of the region. Further east the totals were lower, with 10mm or less recorded.

Flooding to property is not predicted anywhere in the South East but officials said they were monitoring the situation "very closely" as further rainfall is forecast later this week.

An EA spokesman said: "The rain will clear this afternoon. The next band of rain is expected late on Thursday and into Friday, but at present totals do not look too serious for the South East.

"There also looks to be another band of rainfall on Sunday. Our teams have been out across the South East to check on flood defences, clear any river blockages and closely monitor river levels."

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