UK Weather: More Flood Warnings Issued Across England And Wales By Environment Agency

Large swathes of Britain remain on flood alert with more heavy and persistent downfalls forecast to further dampen the summer season.

Storms that brought flash flooding to parts of Wales and Shropshire yesterday showed little sign of relenting overnight and are expected to extend into the South East today.

Up to 10mm of rain an hour fell in parts of Wales, the Midlands and East Anglia - prompting the Environment Agency (EA) to issue a number of fresh flood alerts.

York residents watching a bloated River Ouse flood the city recently - and parts of England face being waterlogged yet again

A total of eight flood warnings are in place - six in the South West, one in the Midlands and one in the Anglia region - with 55 flood alerts across England and Wales. Seventeen of the alerts were issued across the Midlands last night as storms moved in.

The A49 in Shropshire was closed yesterday following intense rainfall, while flash floods hit parts of north Powys in Wales after torrential rain.

An EA spokesman said: "The Environment Agency is urging people across central and eastern England to remain vigilant as heavy thunderstorms are forecast to affect large swathes of the country.

"Locally intense showers falling on already saturated ground could lead to surface water flooding and possible river flooding from fast responding rivers, particularly across parts of the Midlands and East Anglia.

"The Met Office warns that many areas are expected to see between 20 and 30 mm of rain, but some parts could see up to 60mm - almost a month's worth of rain - in just a few hours."

The agency said there was also a continued risk of flooding from rising groundwater across parts of Dorset as local drainage systems struggle to cope with the rainfall.

John Curtin, Head of Incident Management at the EA, said: "We have experienced some severe weather in recent weeks and the risk of flooding remains high across England, but particularly across the Midlands and the East of the country.

"The combination of saturated ground, high river levels and further forecasts of torrential rain mean people must remain vigilant."

The EA said teams had been mobilised across the country to check on flood defences, clear any river blockages and closely monitor river levels over the coming days.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning of heavy rain for parts of the Midlands, southern and eastern England and Wales.

Forecaster George Goodfellow said: "Overnight we have had an overhang of yesterday's band of persistent, heavy showers in the Midlands and North Wales which have drifted further south into South East England.

"There have been some really heavy showers with places getting 5-10mm of rain in an hour."

He added: "Normally rainfall rates like that are a bit of a concern but because everything is so wet, you don't need that much to cause flooding problems."

Mr Goodfellow said the band of heavy and locally thundery rain will move slowly southwards across central and south-eastern parts of England during of today. Showers are also predicted in the South West.

People are being urged not to drive or walk through flood waters which can be dirty, dangerous and full of hidden debris.

The wettest April to June on record, followed by more heavy rain so far this month, has caused widespread - and in some cases, repeated - flooding.

The latest casualty of the washout summer was the Country, Land and Business Association's (CLA) Game Fair at Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire, due to take place from July 20 to 22, which has been cancelled.

The latest floods come amid claims that nearly 300 flood defence schemes across England have been left unbuilt following government budget cuts.

According to the Guardian, which analysed EA documents, 294 projects that had indicative funding in 2010 to begin work in the following two years have not received any money.

Charles Tucker of the National Flood Forum told the newspaper: "The fact is that spending has decreased while flooding has increased. Spending on flooding is clearly not enough."

The EA said 364 new flood risk management schemes had been completed in the last three years.

"There will always be more schemes proposed than funds available and no one can prevent flooding entirely," said the agency's chief executive Paul Leinster.

The Met Office later increased its warning of rain to amber across parts of the South East, Midlands and East Anglia.

The EA later increased the number of flood warnings to 12 with six in the South West, four in the Midlands and two in the Anglian area.

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