14/02/2014 BBC News at One

threatening already flood hit areas. Torrential rain and gales are

hitting southern and western coasts, causing more damage and disruption.

That weather is bullied into the Somerset Levels now, where we are

live, and it has homeowners on a knife edge. Digging in, Princes

William and Harry show their support by joining the military relief

effort in Berkshire. We will have the latest from the worst affected

areas. Also this lunchtime, Labour holds onto Wythenshawe and Sale East

in a Parliamentary by-election. UKIP beats the Tories into second place.

More aid reaches those in desperate need in Syria, but peace talks stall

and it has been revealed the death toll has risen significantly since

they began. Failing to get the best deal on pensions, city watchdog

review finds customers are being short-changed. And going for gold in

a couple of hours. Britain's Lizzy Yarnold could deliver Great

Britain's first win of the Winter Olympics.

Later on BBC London, there is yet more rain on the way for flood-hit

communities in Surrey and Berkshire. And BBC London

understands the mainline railway at Maidenhead could be closed for flood

repairs, causing more disruption. Hello, good afternoon, welcome to

the BBC News At One. Another powerful storm has hit the UK,

bringing the risk of renewed flooding to those already affected

in the south of England. More than an inch and a half of rain is

expected to fall in the next few hours and gales of up to 80 miles an

hour are starting to batten -- batter southern and western coasts.

17 severe flood warnings are in place. The Prime Minister again

promised to do whatever it takes to help those affected. This lunchtime,

we will hear from our correspondents across those worst affected areas.

First, Phil Mackie is an Alney Island near Gloucester for us.

You can see the sandbags. They are getting ready, preparing themselves

in case the flood defences are needed over the weekend. They have a

huge bump, trying to keep the water out. That is where the River Severn

is, ten centimetres below those flood defence levels at the moment.

If it comes over that is why they have a severe flood warning. It has

been another awful ready for hours for people here, as it has been for

people across the country. -- an awful 24 hours. Here we go again and

it is not getting any better. Britain is taking another battering.

Happy Valentine's day. It is all falling on already saturated ground.

It is difficult to see how much more we can take. Here is the latest on

the conveyor belt of storms. A new image from space, showing how the

Somerset Levels looked before this all started and here is how it looks

now. The vast seven up -- flood plain, which stretches from mid

Wales, will befall for weeks. Alney Island in Gloucester is on severe

flood warning. They are bracing themselves for a nurse this weekend

but it hasn't flooded yet. I am still frightens. Thinking, what is

it going to be, as bad as 2007? Keep my fingers crossed. Is this the

River Severn? Resizes staying with his family at his grandparents's

chalet after fleeing the floods in Staines. His mother says the

authorities here are better organised. Life in Staines is sheer

chaos. The local authorities here handle it really well. Not so great

back in Staines. But here they are fully prepared, you are informed

constantly, sandbags are delivered. They are doing really well here. In

Blackpool, the prime minister has been inspecting storm damage. He has

promised everything will be done to help. I want people to know that the

government absolutely stands behind this relief effort and money is not

an object in this relief effort, whatever is required with emergency

services, the Environment Agency workers, sandbags, military effort,

all those things will be done in this vital period. I think it is

very important people understand that. Some days it feels like it

will never end and even if there is a tiny glimmer of hope it is not

going to get better quickly. An inch of rain today for some of us, double

that in a few places, so another drenching across many parts of the

country. Strong winds overnight tonight buffeting the south coast,

80 miles an hour gusts by the early hours. More heavy showers tomorrow.

There is a hint things will get less worse through the early part of next

week. Still some rain but lengthy dry spells in between, so hopefully

a glimmer of hope. For now, across the country, it is another day of

battening down the hatches and keeping your fingers crossed.

They have been bringing in the sandbags. They brought the Royal

Marines in here. If you can see the doors here, this was roughly the

level of the floods in 2007. They do not think that will happen this

time. If you have ever been in a flood, you get twitchy and nervous

and understandably people here over the next few days, during the

weekend, are going to be watching the skies and hoping the water does

not come in again. No doubt about that. In the past few

minutes it has been confirmed that a man from North Wales has died after

being hit by a falling tree in his garden during the severe storm on

Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Buckinghan Palace has

said the Queen is supporting farmers affected by the flooding on the

Somerset Levels, by contributing feed and bedding from the Royal

farms at Windsor. The misery continues for residents with many

homes still underwater. Chris Eakin is in East Lyng for us with more.

Chris. Yes, on the Somerset Levels and this

believe it or not is a main road, a trunk road, the A631 running between

the trees. It has been flooded for a month and locals say it will be

flooded for another month. I am on the edge of the village of East

Lyng, the sandbags across the main road and the road closed. A bit of a

small effort to direct the water. It gets a bit more serious in here.

Incidentally, this is actually the Dutch television interviewing the

daughter of the woman who lives here because the Dutch are over, looking

at their big Amsterdam pumps that they have moved on to the levels.

You can see the Somerset Levels in the background and how the water has

got up to Pat's house here and through the letterbox by the front

door you have the water being pumped out across the garden. It is a

treacherous walk in. Pat, who is elderly, is still living upstairs.

She does not want to leave the house. This is a tale of two houses

because if you come next door and Mrs Richard, the owner, walking

around the front, his house is dry inside. He has this fantastic

system. There is a pump hidden in the sandbags. He has praised the

Council for providing 2000 sandbags. That is a mixed picture around the

country. You have one who has succumbed to the floods and another

who is trying to keep the water at bay. This rain is not helping and it

is a nervous wait for them. Chris, thank you very much. 14

severe warnings remain in place in the Thames Valley, where levels have

been at their highest for 60 years. This morning the Duke of Cambridge

and his brother Prince Harry have been helping colleagues from the

Armed Forces sandbagged properties in Datchet. Richard Lister is in

Marleau was more. -- he is in Marleau. Some of the

highest river levels in 60 years along communities along the path of

the Thames. You can see just how quickly it is still flowing, it is

absolutely bursting with water, quite literally the water is being

bruising across the banks even though Marleau is seeing little

stopping in the levels of the Thames dropping 424 hours here, much to the

relief of everybody in and the other communities. With more heavy rain

beginning to fall already, everybody along the Thames valley is braced

for the worst. Just across the river from Windsor Castle, two Royal

volunteers joined the flood relief effort this morning. Princes William

and Harry were spotted on loading sandbags Datchet, showing their

support for the many victims of this crisis. Jeremy Chin in Marlow is one

of them. His wife and kids have moved out. The flood waters have

been pumped from his house but are lurking ominously in his garden. Raw

sewage is bubbling up from a drain. It got to a point where it

overwhelmed us, it came up through the floors and fortunately. The

whole house at the bottom has gone. We have had to move out and find a

place for the kids but nobody could have done anything more. It was just

the volume of water that beat the firemen. With a more heavy rain

already falling he is prepared for another possible flood of his home

in a few days' time. The standing water in this estate is designed to

drain into this culvert, but the pumps in this cover were completely

overwhelmed by the flooding a few days ago and this area was thigh

deep in water. The fire and were due service have put these high-capacity

pumps in. They have been able to put much of the water in here and keep

it in bed but they may not be able to cope with the amount of water

expected. All across the Thames valley the race on to defend homes

and people another deluge. In Chertsey, temporary flood defences

are being put in place by the army and Environment Agency. This is what

is called an AquaDam, which will fill with water as flood levels

rise. But residents on the other side of the street say their

properties are being sacrificed. We have done everything in our power to

keep the houses dry, safe and warm and they are currently. Actually,

what is happening now in our view is that any measures that we have taken

actually are going to be worthless because this will essentially back

the water up into our homes. Thousands more sandbags are being

brought into the region. The Gurkhas were helping in Chertsey, part of a

large military presence here. Everyone knows that with more rain,

river levels will rise again in coming days. More floods seem almost

inevitable. The quality of the flood water is

something that is of increasing concern for all the communities that

have been flooded, not just here but elsewhere in the country. You saw in

my report the sewage that was bubbling up into the back garden of

the family home. That is very common problem. The agencies that are

trying to deal with the flooding have started to give out free hand

sanitisers for people in homes that have been inundated. They are

warning about people bringing in generators to pump out water for

themselves, warning that they to be cited fairly carefully to ensure

that the fumes given off by the generators do not come into the

house and cause a greater problem. Richard Lister there. Judging the

scale of the flooding, very hard from ground level, so for the first

time the RAF has used an advanced spy plane to help map the full

extent of the problem across southern England. Our defence

correspondent Jonathan Beale was on board as it left RAF Waddington in

Lincolnshire. Which is the RAF's most

sophisticated spy plane fitted with powerful sensors under its belly. It

is normally used abroad to identify and target enemy on the ground. It

is been flowing -- it has been flown over the UK to track the havoc

caused by nature. As night falls, the crew switch on their screens and

begin to follow the path of the Thames below. Within eight minutes

they can scan an area of more than 500 miles. It is the flooding around

the River Severn. We are not allowed to show what is on their monitors

but they can clearly identify the impact of the flooding. The crew are

used to flying over combat zones like Afghanistan but tonight's

mission is much closer to home. Hoping to fight the floods that are

affecting friends and even family. most of the time it is supporting

people, supporting the country, and today I am supporting my family. I

have a nun who lives in Staines, on the river bank itself. She has not

been flooded yet, but she is ground level and safe at the moment. My

auntie is under three centimetres of water, I believe, just up the road

from Staines. It is close and personal. On just one flight they

can map the flooding in the whole of southern England. The imagery and

data they collect eight Miles high will be used to cut help the

agencies on the ground. It is not necessarily the mission they have

been trained for, but they hope to make a difference. Yes, normally we

are involved in traditional military tasking, looking for targets,

protection for our forces, but now we are doing protection of our own

population which is rewarding that we can do something in the UK to

give back to the public rather than just helping the military effort.

With thousands of square miles survey, there is now more

information on the floods but even smart military technology can't

alter the weather. Well, as ever, you can find out much

more about those weather conditions on the BBC news website.

Bbc.co.uk/news. And of course, local updates on your BBC local radio

stations. It is coming up to 1:15pm. The main story this lunchtime.

Another powerful storms battering UK, with torrential rain and gales

of up to 80 miles an hour threatening already flood-hit areas.

I am here at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, where in the next few hours

use -- Lizzy Yarnold could win Britain's first gold of these Games.

Later on BBC London, an inquest hears how the police will widen

their search after a man dies after being Neknominated to drink a legal

-- lethal cocktail of alcohol. The London actor last seen in Sunshine

On Leith hoping for a win at the BAFTAs.

Labour has held its Parliamentary seat in Wythenshawe and Sale East

with an increased majority. The UK Independence Party came second,

pushing the Conservatives into third place. The Liberal Democrats would

not get enough votes to keep their deposit. From Wythenshawe, here is

our political correspondent Chris Mason.

Smiles from Ed Miliband and his new MP. Cheers of joy from party

activists. This is a seat which Labour has held for aeons, and still

does. Look at that result last night. We saw a Labour Party

expanding and growing its support, and a Tory party and a Liberal

Democrat party shrinking its space and shrivelling its support. And 15

months before the general election, reality is catching up with this

government. I therefore declaim that Mike Kane is duly elected...

Labour's victory came in the middle of the night. The people of

Wythenshawe and Sale East have sent a very clear message. They want a

government to stand up for a soul, a one nation, labour government! Once

again, Nigel Farage's UK Independence Party were the best of

the rest, a distant second, but seconds nonetheless. I do not think

Labour ever feared that we could challenge their postal vote, but

what we did, for the first time ever in the history of UKIP, is challenge

the Labour Party directly, and what they have done to working

communities in the north of England. We have never been quite as boulders

that before. The Conservatives finished third, not great, but

summary assured that UKIP did not do better. Of course I would have

preferred it if they had not squeezed into second place ahead of

us, but it was just squeezing ahead. So, not exactly a bandwagon.

It was another rough night for the Liberal Democrats. Their vote

collapsed and they were not keen to talk about it. Just give us your

reaction, please. The posters and the cheers will soon die down here,

as politics move on -- moves on to the European and local elections

this May, and the general election next year. We can speak to Chris

Mason now. How much can be read into that result? The short and honest

answer is, we cannot read a great deal into one by-election, not least

one in a very safe Labour seat. They have controlled this seat pretty

much from the dawn of time, and they continue to do so. Nonetheless, the

extrapolations and analysis will be done, on the basis of this little

sliver of the elect it. Two trends continued here last night. One, as

we touched on, was the rise of the UK Independence Party, which

finished second for the sixth time in a by-election since the last

general election, five of which have been in the north of England, in

safe Labour seats. The other strand to pick up on is the Liberal

Democrats. They lost their deposit, the money you have two hand over

just to enter, because they got less than 5% of the vote. They say, in

seats like this, yes, that will happen, but where we have a power

base, we can dig in and hold on. That is their big hope, come the

general election. The political bandwagon moves on. This by-election

I suspect will be very quickly forgotten.

It has emerged that the former editor of the Daily Mirror Piers

Morgan was interviewed under caution by police in connection with phone

hacking, in December last year. Our home affairs correspondent, Matt

Prodger, will tell us more. Police have confirmed that a 48-year-old

journalist, believed to be Piers Morgan, was interviewed under

caution. He was questioned by detect tips working under a strand of the

phone hacking investigation, which is not looking at allegations

relating to News International, but at its rival, Mirror Group

Newspapers. Piers Morgan used to be editor of the Daily Mirror, before

he made a big name for himself as a talk-show host for CNN in the United

States. He also gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry on press standards,

in which he said that he did not believe any phone hacking had

occurred at the Mirror newspaper, but he did confirm that he had once

been played a tape of a voice mail message left on the phone of Heather

Mills, then partner Paul McCartney, by McCartney himself. Banker for

that. Fighting has intensified in Syria, and the death toll has risen

significantly since peace talks began, with more people having been

killed than at any other time during the conflict, according to the

latest figures from human rights groups. The UN humanitarian chief,

Baroness Amos, has told the Security Council that it is unacceptable that

violations of international law are still continuing. Our correspondent

in Damascus, Lyse Doucet, spoke to us earlier. Valerie Amos has started

using words like shameful, shame on the international community, she

says, for not being able to agree on a Security Council resolution for

the kind of humanitarian action which is absolutely necessary and

urgent to deal with Syria's deepening humanitarian disaster. We

have spent most of the week in the city of Homs, where a temporary

truce has allowed 1400 people to finally escape a nearly two-year

long siege, where they have been living in the ruins, living without

electricity or running water, living with a diminishing supply of food.

At last they are getting some help. But this is a country where a

quarter of a million Syrians are living in desperate conditions like

that, and all that is really needed to resolve the crisis is a political

solution. But listen to what Lakhdar Brahimi, the envoy, said yesterday

in Geneva, that after a few weeks of peace talks, they are staring

failure in the face. Those talks have started, but progress is a long

way off. Lyse Doucet there. The pensions system here is not working

for customers, and could be stopping people receiving a fair income in

their retirement, according to a report by the city watchdog. The

Financial Conduct Authority found that any people could get more cash

from their annuity if they shopped around. Here is our personal Finance

correspondent, Simon Gompertz. Millions are being signed up by

employers to the sort of pensions which we are are not working. They

are on top of the state pension, but not guaranteed, like old style

company schemes, and the typical worker retiring is getting

substantially less than they should. Anthony has been through the

process. He built up a pension pot of savings with an insurance company

while working, and recently used the money to buy an annuity, an annual

income for the rest of his life. But crucially, he decided to shop around

for the annuity, something most people neglect to do. I would say I

probably get around ?100, slightly more may be, a month, by doing the

shopping around. It will help me with the household bills. I am in

immediate need of updating my computers, and it would be nice to

have a holiday. The watchdog has found that pensioners could get 7%

extra by shopping around, ?70 a year on average, because pension savings

are often very small, but it makes a total of ?230 million a year which

is being lost, and the FCA says it is more profitable for insurers if

that customers do nothing. Every company selling any product wants to

both cover the cost of its provision and make some profit on top of that,

that is how commerce works how capitalism works. Our question is,

how much profit is being made on top of that? Increasingly, people are

turning to the internet for annuities. The FCA found price

comparison sites were misleading about charges and options, and has

forced them to change. Key question is weather the insurers are

profiting unfairly from their own savers. There is no evidence either

in the report or in any of the reviews which have been done of this

that there is profiteering going on in the insurance industry. 420,000

people are buying annuities each year, and we now know that a large

proportion of them are ending up with poor value pensions. The

problem will go on for at least another year, because that is how

long the watchdog body, the FCA, says it needs to come up with

solutions. You can find out more about

annuities are going to the website. The man credited with turning around

the fortunes of Marks Spencer is to become an unpaid adviser for the

NHS in England, concentrating on 14 failings trusts. Sir Stuart Rose

will be a mentor for senior managers and will give guidance on how to

select the best leaders. Branwen Jeffreys reports. The man who ran

M has a lot to learn about hospitals. Caught me out there! Sir

Stuart Rose met staff yesterday in Basildon, alongside the Health

Secretary. He heard about changes being made. This hospital is one of

those put into special measures after concerns about care. It is a

world away from his retail background, but Sir Stewart says he

can bring people skills to the task of raising morale in the NHS. You

depend on those people every single day to do their job properly and

skilfully to make sure that we are getting the right output. In the

case of customers in a store, it is about giving them the right goods

and services. Here, it is about making sure people get the right

service, a safe service, and the right outcome for them, too. . Early

each morning in Basildon, staff meet, giving them a chance to raise

concerns about patient care, to talk openly about potential problems or

pressures. What I have noticed here is what one of the nurses said to

me, the difference is that now, they listen to us. When nurses on the

front line raise concerns, there is a meeting every morning, the

management are there. More nurses have been hired, there are signs of

improvement. The hospital is now run by so, can the NHS learn from

private sector leaders? She says the challenges are very different.

Sometimes we are working in an environment where we have less

freedom than perhaps an independent business. And of course, our

priority is not about the bottom line, important though it is, it is

about the safety and well-being of our patients. And the health union

Unison says the NHS is different to retail. Patients do not shop by

choice, they use it when they are vulnerable.

Now, Lizzy Yarnold could deliver great written's first gold of the

Winter Olympics today, when, in just a few hours' time, she starts the

first of her final two runs in the women's skeleton. The former

heptathlete only took up the sport in 2010. She dominated the first day

of the competition. Andy Swiss is in Sochi Wigmore. Yes, what a day it

could be, and what a day it could be for Lizzy Yarnold. She only took up

the skeleton five years ago, but by the end of today, she could be a

lipid champion. -- she could be Olympic champion.

Halfway to history. Two runs down, two to go. On yesterday's form, she

is surely gliding to gold. The 25-year-old from Kent, along with

her sled, which she calls Mervyn, hurtling down the track nearly half

a second quicker than anyone else, a healthy margin. Tonight, she will be

hoping to give her travelling fan club even more to celebrate. I could

not do it without them, and my best friends Jim and Alison armour who

have supported me from the start. They put up with my moaning, they

have been through it all. It costs so much for them to be here. Lizzy

Yarnold started out as a budding athlete. While at school, she

competed at county level. But at the age of 19, she was talent spotted

for something very different. Skeleton is sport's ultimate white

knuckle ride, with speeds of up to 80mph. Her progress has been rapid.

From novice to world number one in just a few years. Britain are

something of specialists in skeleton. They have won medals in

the event in the last three Games, including gold for Amy Williams in

2010. She is now hoping her friend can follow in her footsteps. I have

spoken to her and she she is in a really good place, very confident.

That lead of 44 hundredths puts her in a really good place. Elsewhere,

Britain's women's curlers have notched up another victory,

thrashing Japan. Already a good day, then, for Team GB, and it might soon

get a whole lot better. Yes, all eyes here will be on Lizzy Yarnold.

Her final run will be about half past five your time. We will then

know weather Britain has its first champion of these Winter Olympics.

We will be watching, but now, all eyes return to the weather. Yes, we

have been pummelled once again by the third storm of the week. Three

main hazards to watch out for. Heavy rain, of which we have had plenty

already today. Turning to snow over the higher ground. Also, damaging

winds. This is a picture we have become very familiar with over the

last several weeks, an intense low pressure moving in from the

Atlantic. The more persistent rain begins to move away from the south

of England over the next few hours, wishing northwards, turning to snow

over higher ground. I have left the winds off for the moment. I will

come back to that. As we get through towards the busy rush-hour this

evening, it could get pretty tricky across some of the higher routes

across the Grampians and the Highlands. Pretty unpleasant in

Northern Ireland as well. Further south, still lots of heavy showers.

Even where we have not got the flooding, still a lot of water

around on the roads this evening. And then, the wind will be picking

up as well, severe gales blowing into the southern coast. Concentrate

on that snow, it really sets in across the Scottish Highlands this

evening. But moving back to the winds, through the evening and

overnight, they will really start to utter those southern coasts of

England. Gusts of up to 80mph potentially along the coast. -- to

batter. Later in the night, into the early part of Saturday, some of

those strong winds will be edging further inland. So, a very windy

start to the weekend. Still some rain around, but it starts to ease

as the day wears on. But you will notice the breeze, particularly as

it swings around to the north-west, and it will be feeling particularly

chilly then. There is a trend towards something a little bit

better. Sunday should be dry and sunny for most of us. I cannot hide

the fact there is a bit more rain heading in later in the day, but

generally, the chance to regroup. And that starts a trend into next

week, with the storms starting to ease off. There will be some dry

spells, although not completely dry. Certainly an awful lot better than

we have seen over the last few weeks.

Our main headline... Further misery for parts of the UK, as torrential

rain and gales of up to 80mph have