UK unveils more funds amid flood devastation
Print Edition
Britain announced emergency funding to cope with devastating floods after what officials said had been likely the worst spell of winter rainfall in at least 248 years.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s government has faced criticism for its handling of a crisis that has left swathes of the country under water, with a key railway line washed away.
Several people had to be rescued from deluged homes yesterday while more storms are expected this weekend.
Across the English Channel, France’s western tip was placed on alert for flooding as high tides wreaked havoc along the Atlantic coast.
Britain’s Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said the government would make an extra 30 million pounds (US$48 million) available for emergency repairs, on top of the 100 million pounds announced on Wednesday.
Pickles said yesterday the winter was the “wettest since George III was on the throne”, referring to Britain’s monarch from 1760-1820.
Britain’s Meteorological Office released figures confirming Pickles’ assessment.
For southern England, “regional statistics suggest that this is one of, if not the most, exceptional periods of winter rainfall in at least 248 years,” it said in a statement.
Parts of the region received five months of rainfall from December 12 to January 31. The rainy winter has set records tumbling, being the wettest combined December-January period across the United Kingdom since 1910, the Met Office said.
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