Browse content similar to 11/02/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: With flood | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
waters still rising and drains backing up, the drive to keep things | :00:09. | :00:16. | |
moving across Worcestershire. More rain is on the way. It is | :00:17. | :00:22. | |
appalling. We have more rain coming tomorrow and the big system on | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
Friday and Saturday. There could be as many as 80 millimetres more rain | :00:27. | :00:30. | |
which is what we do not want. We'll be live at the riverside for all the | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
latest developments. Also this evening: Downriver in Tewkesbury ` | :00:34. | :00:36. | |
homes at risk as flood waters there continue to rise. I don't know | :00:37. | :00:42. | |
whether we would prefer to face bombs or water, to be honest. The | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
water is frightening. Our homes are now worthless, says | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
villagers living within yards of the proposed high`speed railway line. We | :00:49. | :00:55. | |
are really fed up because we have been waiting almost four years and | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
it is the uncertainty that gets to you. | :00:59. | :01:00. | |
Kitchen conversion ` rugby stars from Worcester Warriors take time | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
out to help a struggling homeless charity. | :01:04. | :01:05. | |
And this may have been the scene in Shropshire this morning, but it | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
wasn't the only place to have seen snow. And there's plenty more to | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
come later tonight. But that's just for starters. It's all happening | :01:13. | :01:15. | |
tomorrow. Find out more later in the forecast. | :01:16. | :01:26. | |
Good evening. The fight to keep the region's raging rivers at bay | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
continues tonight ` with the threat of even higher water levels within | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
the next 48 hours. Anxious communities living alongside major | :01:35. | :01:37. | |
rivers such as the Severn and the Wye have been warned that further | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
flooding is expected, with fire crews, council workers and | :01:41. | :01:42. | |
Environment Agency staff all stretched by today's fresh deluge. | :01:43. | :01:50. | |
Our reporters have been across the region today. Our first report | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
tonight comes from Cath Mackie in Worcester. | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
It's a nervous waiting game for people living near the River Severn | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
in Worcester, as the water creeps up their flood defences. It is a | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
concern. It is not one that we consider jumping ship, excuse the | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
pun, but you need to be aware of it. You need to manage it and make sure | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
the neighbours are OK. It has been seeping up through the concrete. It | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
has wet the carpet in odd places. Water gets everywhere, doesn't it? | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
More than 60 volunteers are on stand`by across Worcestershire and | :02:23. | :02:25. | |
Gloucestershire with a fleet of 4x4s to help people stranded by flooding. | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
Ron Hart has just returned from Somerset, where he carried out | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
rescues in high floodwater. He's now in Worcester, ready for action. It | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
is really to get their essential care workers, doctors, surgeons, to | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
and from hospital, so when they are cut off because of floods and snow, | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
we will make sure that they make it to work and back. | :02:48. | :02:50. | |
Across Worcestershire, maintenance teams are at work clearing drains | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
and ditches. It is basically like a big vacuum cleaner. It sucks all the | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
mud, silt and water. This two`man team clocked on at 6.30 this | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
morning, driving around the county removing blockages that, if left, | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
could cause flooding. Go to about 95 gullies per day. Working nonstop | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
since 6:30 this morning and all the way through until four. It is fair | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
to say that lessons have been learned since the big flood of 2007 | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
when so many blocked drains and gullies added to the general | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
flooding misery. And you can see now the investment that has gone in to | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
try and keep those drains clear at times like this. You have got | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
different technology now, so when we go to clear the drains, if there is | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
something they cannot clear, it comes up on the screen in the | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
vehicles and it is fed back to headquarters, who can deal with the | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
blocked pipe or whatever. All eyes are looking anxiously at | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
the water levels. There's no let up in the rain ` this morning a | :03:49. | :03:51. | |
shocking downpour and hailstorm greeted traffic crossing the | :03:52. | :03:53. | |
partially opened river bridge. Disruption is becoming the norm. | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
This community is extremely resilient and extremely experienced | :03:57. | :03:58. | |
in these conditions. Businesses are open as usual and we will try to | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
maintain the situation as best we can. | :04:03. | :04:04. | |
Every drain that's cleared across Worcestershire is now recorded and | :04:05. | :04:07. | |
monitored ` but with more rain forecast,t, the hope is they're not | :04:08. | :04:15. | |
fighting a losing battle. Well, Cath is at the water's edge in Worcester | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
this evening. Cath, how's it looking? I have spoke | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
to a man who brought his daughter here from Birmingham to show her | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
what nature could do. It is a site in war star with the River Severn | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
rising around us. With me is David from the Environment Agency. How | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
nervous are you? We are vigilant and ready to act. We have got some high | :04:37. | :04:44. | |
levels up at Ironbridge, it is now peaking and that one area we have | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
the highest levels for 14 years. It will work its way down through | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
Worcester by tomorrow and Thursday. The flood defences were built with a | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
standard peak of 5.7 metres. Do you think we will see that? 5.5 is the | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
current prediction. But we must keep a close eye on things. Do you have | :05:04. | :05:10. | |
contingency plans in case the flood defences are breached? We are | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
operating under a silver demand which is all of the emergency | :05:16. | :05:18. | |
organisations working together. If something unexpected happens, we | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
will be ready to act. In 2007, we had half a foot of rain in one day. | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
This time it has been more gradual. Has that made it easier to plan? I | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
think so. In 2007 it was mainly surface water. The River Severn is a | :05:36. | :05:43. | |
slower reacting river. Towns and cities along the Severn are open for | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
business but this is very much a waiting game. People are hoping that | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
the forecast is not as bad as predicted. | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
At least 45 properties in Ironbridge in Shropshire are tonight at risk of | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
flooding. The River Severn is thought to be at its highest levels | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
in the town for 14 years. From the birthplace of the Industrial | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
Revolution, Ben Godfrey sent this report. | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
Late this afternoon, reinforcements were arriving to protect the | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
historic wharfage in Ironbridge. Although the swollen River Severn | :06:17. | :06:18. | |
peaked here earlier, surface run`off water from surrounding hills is | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
putting homes at greater risk. Tonight the Severn at Ironbridge is | :06:25. | :06:27. | |
getting exceptionally high. It is standing at around six metres, the | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
highest it has been in 14 years. In an unusual move, the council | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
contacted 45 properties today, asking them to consider moving onto | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
the first floor ` or leave until further notice. And people have been | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
prevented from walking behind the flood barriers. There is one metre | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
of water against this barrier. If it did go with that amount of water on | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
it, it would be a bit of a disaster. They are asking people to take | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
precautions. People are heeding those precautions. Coalbrookdale | :06:58. | :06:59. | |
primary school says it'll close tomorrow. A few properties ` which | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
we couldn't reach on foot ` have suffered minor flooding, but so far | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
these barriers are working effectively. They are the most | :07:08. | :07:14. | |
important thing. The Environment Agency are doing a wonderful job. | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
The council. Without the flood barriers, some of the shops would be | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
under. Environment Agency staff are now wearing life jackets, but they | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
say it's a just precaution when the river rises significantly. Traders | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
are putting on a brave face as the river rages by. Ben Godfrey, BBC | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
Midlands Today, Ironbridge. Further downstream from Ironbridge | :07:38. | :07:39. | |
and Worcester is Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, which of course | :07:40. | :07:42. | |
provided one of the most enduring images of the great floods of 2007 ` | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
the town and its famous abbey effectively cut off. Fast`forward | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
nearly seven years and residents are still facing a major challenge, with | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
hundreds of sandbags handed out in the last 24 hours. Sarah Falkland | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
has spent the day in Tewkesbury with worried homeowners. | :07:59. | :08:07. | |
A bit choppy today with the wind we have been having. If you live in a | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
situation like this, you learn to live with it and keep a general eye | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
open. And make decisions based on what we can see. But what is that | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
seeming muddy ocean out there? It is the flooded river Avon and the | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
flooded River Severn combined. It is getting dangerously close to Abbey | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
Terrace. A few doors down and this neighbour is already worrying about | :08:33. | :08:34. | |
the aftermath once the waters have receded. It is like, have I really | :08:35. | :08:41. | |
got to start again and do it all over again? But you do. You find | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
yourself thinking, well, yes, what else am I going to do other than | :08:47. | :08:53. | |
cry? We cannot afford years. There is too much water out there to add | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
to it! For many of the residents along the Terrace, this afternoon is | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
all about pumping what you can out of your cellar and moving your | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
possessions to safety. For some, that means the cost of putting | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
furniture into storage. For everyone it means that sandbags, although the | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
council is running people not to be greedy. We have had had bands taking | :09:14. | :09:21. | |
30 or 40 bags. `` we have had bands. We have put security in place | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
to make sure it is fair for everyone. Geoffrey Clarke is putting | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
his faith in his home`made flood defence system. It has kept six | :09:30. | :09:37. | |
inches of water out of the house. Any water leaking through went into | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
the fish pond and we popped it back over the wall. As long as the flood | :09:42. | :09:44. | |
outside do not get higher than the wall, we are OK. River levels are | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
set to rise and for some that means having as much faith in man`made | :09:50. | :09:58. | |
forces as in divine ones. Good to have you with us here on | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
Midlands Today. We have the all`important weather forecast with | :10:02. | :10:04. | |
Shefali coming up later. And we'll be offering you a unique perspective | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
of the floods in Shrewsbury. Find out how we got these pictures. | :10:08. | :10:19. | |
Residents in a small community in north Warwickshire claim they're | :10:20. | :10:21. | |
living in Britain's most blighted village ` and their homes are now | :10:22. | :10:24. | |
'unsellable' thanks to the proposed High Speed Two railway line. Within | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
a mile of Gilson, there are three motorways and, if plans for HS2 go | :10:29. | :10:31. | |
ahead, the village will be surrounded by a major railway | :10:32. | :10:34. | |
junction. The area's inside a special "Safeguarding Zone" aimed at | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
protecting homeowners. But so far, the Government's only agreed to buy | :10:38. | :10:40. | |
a handful of properties. Our Transport Correspondent, Peter | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
Plisner, has the details. A picture postcard image in today's | :10:46. | :10:48. | |
snow ` but is this Britain's most blighted village? Some people | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
certainly think so. Originally affected by the construction of the | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
M42 and then the M6 toll and now HS2, the controversial line passes | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
right through the middle of the field over there. And that means | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
it's pretty close most houses here, and as a result the majority of them | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
sit within an HS2 Safeguarding Zone, where home`owners can ask the | :11:08. | :11:10. | |
Government to buy them out ` so they can move. But letters from the | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
Department for Transport, saying that the Government is unable to buy | :11:17. | :11:19. | |
the majority of properties ` because their land is not in order to build | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
or operate Phase One of HS2. It leaves homes here worthless. Local | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
estate agents won't even put them on the market. You can't put a property | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
on the market that you know is not going to sell. You know if you put | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
it on the books, clients will ask you about HS2 and as soon as they | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
know, they will not want to view the property. So you have unsellable | :11:43. | :11:45. | |
stock, so you are wasting time, effort and money trying to sell a | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
property you know you will not be able to sell. It's all left people | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
like retired teacher, John Whitehead in a classic state of limbo and, | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
like the name of his house, at his wits end. We were angry at first and | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
now we are really fed up because we have been waiting almost four years | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
and it is the uncertainty that gets to you. The Government has agreed to | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
buy some properties. But so far only those which will be knocked down if | :12:09. | :12:11. | |
the line gets built. Surveyors acting for residents in the village | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
say it's all very unfair. People want to get on with their everyday | :12:16. | :12:18. | |
lives. They can't plan for their future, they have their kids to | :12:19. | :12:21. | |
think about, which schools do they go to, if they want to retire, where | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
do they go? The whole area is simply blighted at the moment. The good | :12:27. | :12:29. | |
news is that a new compensation scheme, expected to be launched in | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
the summer, could provide the solution. But there are no | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
guarantees. Any purchases will still be at the discretion of the | :12:36. | :12:38. | |
Government. And Peter joins us now from Curzon | :12:39. | :12:41. | |
Street in Birmingham, the proposed site of the city's station for HS2. | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
What a nightmare for the residents, Peter, it does seem unfair? That is | :12:48. | :12:55. | |
what we are seeing tonight but a lot of people went there to retire, for | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
a quiet life, now they are pretty busy fighting plans for HS2 and | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
trying to sell their houses. Many thought that when it was designated | :13:04. | :13:06. | |
inside the safeguarding zones they had a guarantee their houses would | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
be purchased, but it seems the only guarantee inside that safeguarding | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
zones is that you cannot build any extensions to your houses or new | :13:15. | :13:16. | |
houses, no development is allowed at all. The only people who have agreed | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
to sell their property to the government are those who are so | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
close that they are likely to be compulsory purchase. The local MP | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
has been lobbying hard to get the government to what he says do the | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
right thing, but is it the right thing, bearing in mind that these | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
houses would probably be purchased with taxpayers' money? What chance | :13:37. | :13:39. | |
do the residents have against the of the government? Some would say the | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
president has been set ten years ago when the M6 toll was built nearby, a | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
lot of properties were purchased by the government under something | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
called this guestimate `` something called discretionary blight. There | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
was supposed to be one for HS2 but the government has had to re`consult | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
on a scheme because of court action by anti`HS2 protesters. It is | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
thought that once that scheme comes into being, it could be in the | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
summer of this year, that a lot of properties, those who want to be | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
purchased, probably will be purchased and that will hopefully | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
mean a happy ending for those who live there. Peter, thank you. | :14:20. | :14:26. | |
And on this week's Sunday Politics, one of the studio guests will be | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
Alison Munro, chief executive of HS2. That's all with our political | :14:31. | :14:33. | |
editor Patrick Burns from 11 o'clock on BBC One. | :14:34. | :14:35. | |
Police investigating the disappearance of teenage mother | :14:36. | :14:37. | |
Nicola Payne failed to find anything during a search of a nature reserve. | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
Officers spent six hours at grassland in the Stoke Floods area | :14:42. | :14:52. | |
of Binley on Monday. The last sighting of the 18`year`old was in | :14:53. | :14:55. | |
the Henley Green area of Coventry in 1991.Three people remain on police | :14:56. | :15:04. | |
bail as part of the investigation. A review of children's services in | :15:05. | :15:07. | |
Birmingham has found that they're improving but remain fragile. The | :15:08. | :15:09. | |
City Council's children's department has faced criticism after several | :15:10. | :15:11. | |
deaths, including that of two`year`old Keanu Williams, who was | :15:12. | :15:15. | |
beaten to death by his mother. The Local Government Association found | :15:16. | :15:17. | |
improvements in management but that it was still concerned about | :15:18. | :15:20. | |
unallocated cases and the speed of intervention. | :15:21. | :15:22. | |
For years now, many passageways in Birmingham city centre have remained | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
hidden ` out of sight and underused. Now an Architect Masters student is | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
making a case for opening them up in a bid to make the second city more | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
connected. He's looking at Milan to draw inspiration. Our Arts and | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
Culture reporter, Satnam Rana, has been finding out why. | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
Milan and Birmingham ` two cities full of splendid and sometimes | :15:43. | :15:45. | |
similar architecture. But unlike Birmingham, Milan is well known as a | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
design city. Now this Masters Architect student is using Italy's | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
second city as a source of inspiration to create a design kit | :15:55. | :15:57. | |
for city planners here. He's presenting his findings later this | :15:58. | :16:00. | |
week at Selfridge's Festival of Imagination. We have a lot of the | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
ingredient here that could make Birmingham a really great design | :16:06. | :16:08. | |
city. But we perhaps need to learn a couple of lessons just to maximise | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
on what we already have. So, much like Milan, Birmingham has its grand | :16:13. | :16:15. | |
civic squares. Here is St Philips Square. But walk around the corner | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
and there are hidden passageways which Luke says be opened up. In | :16:21. | :16:27. | |
Milan you do get lots of spaces like this which are widely used during | :16:28. | :16:30. | |
the day because a lot of activities surround them and so they becoming | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
exciting spaces. `` and so they become exciting spaces. So the pubs | :16:37. | :16:40. | |
down there are using them and the offices. That's it. In Milan, you | :16:41. | :16:42. | |
would have accommodation and manufacturing workshops in the | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
spaces too. Luke also wants planners to reconsider a legacy of | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
demolition. In Milan, buildings are often modified rather than | :16:49. | :16:50. | |
destroyed. Here, disused building like the brutalist Central Library | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
are set to go. But will Luke's recommendations be useful? Nick | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
Corbett has been working in town planning and urban design for 20 | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
years and has written about Birmingham's regeneration. In | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
Birmingham, we have the big city plan which proposes a streets and | :17:07. | :17:09. | |
squares model. Luke's recommendations are helpful because | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
we can look at more detail, I think, how Birmingham would benefit from a | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
public realm strategy. To have a range of public spaces and bring | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
together designers, business people and industrialists, because that is | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
what the prosperity of the city is built upon. Those interactions. | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
Milan may be thousands of miles away, but for Luke it's a city we | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
can learn from. And as New Street Station undergoes its ?550 million | :17:35. | :17:36. | |
redevelopment, Luke hopes his ideas will be used to create better links | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
within the city. Satnam Rana, BBC Midlands Today, Birmingham. | :17:41. | :17:50. | |
Intriguing. So what's your view? Do you agree | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
with Luke? You can join the debate on how Birmingham city centre could | :17:55. | :18:01. | |
be revamped on our Facebook page. Our top story tonight: With flood | :18:02. | :18:04. | |
waters still rising and drains backing up in Worcester, the drive | :18:05. | :18:07. | |
to keep the city moving. Also on tonight's programme, from | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
goal to grill ` rugby stars helping a struggling charity by cooking | :18:12. | :18:20. | |
breakfast for the homeless. A busy night of football ahead, | :18:21. | :18:23. | |
including two big games in the Premier League. West Brom face the | :18:24. | :18:26. | |
leaders Chelsea at the Hawthorns. Back in November, they drew 2`2 at | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
Stamford Bridge, and only a controversial penalty denied Albion | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
a victory. But Chelsea have the meanest defence in the Premier | :18:35. | :18:37. | |
League, and head coach Pepe Mel rates them very highly indeed. My | :18:38. | :18:49. | |
problem is Chelsea. My problem is their players. It is a problem for | :18:50. | :18:57. | |
us. Jose Mourinho is a good coach. He is a good manager. For me, he is | :18:58. | :19:05. | |
a good person. Aston Villa are hoping that Ron Vlar | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
is fit to return in defence to face struggling Cardiff City. Villa are | :19:10. | :19:12. | |
going for the double, having already won 2`0 when they met at Villa Park | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
three months ago. But Cardiff have changed managers since then. And a | :19:17. | :19:19. | |
win could lift them above West Brom in the battle to avoid relegation. | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
Birmingham City, Port Vale and Cheltenham are also in action | :19:23. | :19:25. | |
tonight. Full coverage on BBC local radio. | :19:26. | :19:28. | |
The Worcester Warriors rugby team have come to the rescue of a charity | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
who were forced to give up serving breakfast for the homeless. Players | :19:33. | :19:35. | |
from the Premiership club have stepped in to cook at the centre in | :19:36. | :19:38. | |
Birmingham once a week. Now they want other businesses to get | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
involved. As Nick Clitheroe reports. Early morning in Birmingham and | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
there's not a rugby ball in sight as the Worcester Warriors get to work. | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
They may never win Masterchef, but these players are providing a vital | :19:50. | :19:52. | |
community service They've banded together to buy the food and start | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
every week by driving up to Digbeth to cook breakfast for the homeless. | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
It is quite humbling. You come here and you see guys who are struggling | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
on a day`to`day basis. For us to get down here and just help, it goes a | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
long way. The SIFA Fireside Centre has been feeding the homeless two | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
hot meals a day for years but all that changed after Christmas. The | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
pressure on funding from rising costs such as heating bills meant | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
the charity had to make a decision. It had come down to one hot meal per | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
day so it had to be breakfast or lunch. They decided to keep the | :20:28. | :20:30. | |
lunches, so without the Warriors there'd be no more breakfasts and | :20:31. | :20:33. | |
the diners are incredibly grateful. Most of us would starve because it | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
is a rough life being on the streets, believe me. I have been on | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
the streets for six months. Without it I wouldn't be able to move | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
forward to even think about what I need to do next, to start looking | :20:46. | :20:48. | |
for work or any of those things. Without it, it would be very | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
difficult. If it puts a smile on someone's face on Monday morning, | :20:53. | :20:55. | |
great. It is a good experience for us. I think the more things like | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
this we can do, the better, the better connected we are in the | :21:00. | :21:02. | |
community. Coming in for a meal is often the first contact many people | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
have with the centre. Hot showers, medical advice and help with the | :21:07. | :21:09. | |
underlying causes of their homelessness follow. They feel | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
marginalised, they feel like people don't care. If we can get people in | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
here and start to massively, massively improve the situation they | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
are in, the emotional thing about knowing that people do care about | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
their well`being, it moves mountains. Now they're hoping other | :21:27. | :21:29. | |
companies will follow the example of the Worcester Warriors and restore | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
breakfast to the Fireside menu. Nick Clitheroe, BBC Midlands Today, | :21:35. | :21:41. | |
Birmingham. Ever wondered what it would look | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
like if you were able to fly directly over the floods ` getting a | :21:46. | :21:48. | |
view like this from just above the swollen waters? Well, tonight we can | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
show you, thanks to Gareth Griffiths. He's been flying his | :21:53. | :21:58. | |
remote`controlled helicopter camera above the River Severn in | :21:59. | :22:00. | |
Shrewsbury, and Joanne Writtle's been to meet him. | :22:01. | :22:07. | |
Beyond the barriers. These remarkable pictures show Shrewsbury | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
under water. A stark reminder of why the flood defences were needed here. | :22:13. | :22:20. | |
It was shot by this man. Gareth Griffiths, wearing video goggles so | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
he can see what he's filming, sent his quadcopter, with a camera | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
attached, above the River Severn. Shrews brewery floods all of the | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
time but it is very rare that you see a viewpoint like this. `` shrews | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
Berry. It is good that it is not giving you a full picture of what is | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
going on. This dust flies up and you can control it and move it around | :22:46. | :22:48. | |
and get the picture you want to see really. Gareth's camera is now | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
heading upstream past the Theatre Severn on the right, which is safe | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
behind the flood barriers. Ahead, motorists make their way across the | :22:56. | :23:05. | |
Welsh Bridge. This is Frank well foot bridge leading over the swollen | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
River Severn from the centre of shrews break to the other side. The | :23:09. | :23:12. | |
other side of town. And from the air it looks like this. A mass of water | :23:13. | :23:20. | |
engulfing the area. Gareth does this as a hobby. He's actually a web | :23:21. | :23:25. | |
designer. But today he was attracting attention from those here | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
to see the floods. I thought it was like something out of Star Trek with | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
the headgear on and the remote control in his hand. From the | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
footbridge it was easy to see that no`one would be able to buy a | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
parking ticket here. And the only way to see this sign welcoming you | :23:44. | :23:46. | |
to this town is from above. Shrewsbury coping with the forces of | :23:47. | :23:49. | |
nature, and being filmed by something hi`tech and entirely man | :23:50. | :24:00. | |
made. Those are terrific pictures. Thank | :24:01. | :24:03. | |
you to Gareth for sharing them with us. | :24:04. | :24:05. | |
And you can watch Gareth's film of the floods in Shrewsbury on the | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
Midlands Today Facebook page. And our Environment Correspondent | :24:11. | :24:12. | |
David Gregory`Kumar has been looking at flooding in the Midlands and | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
analysing how things have changed since the Easter floods of 1998. You | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
can read more and leave your own thoughts on his blog at | :24:20. | :24:25. | |
bbc.co.uk/davidgregorykumar. Well, we've had it all today. | :24:26. | :24:28. | |
Torrential rain, a snowstorm and sunshine. I'm very confused. What's | :24:29. | :24:29. | |
next, Shefali? sunshine. I'm very | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
You are probably going to be completely baffled by the end of | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
tomorrow. To clarify things for you, we have more snow arriving later on | :24:40. | :24:42. | |
tonight and that will be more substantial than the lot you saw | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
this morning but it all arrive is ahead of a deep area of low | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
pressure, the next low`pressure system that rattles up from the | :24:50. | :24:51. | |
south`west through tomorrow and it will bring a whole host of other | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
problems with it. This is what you can expect over the next 24 hours. | :24:56. | :24:59. | |
We have got snow, strong winds and we have got heavy rain. Yellow | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
warnings for all three of those things but particularly for the | :25:05. | :25:07. | |
winds and four Shropshire, is there surely we have got amber warnings so | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
that is more serious and it looks as though Shropshire will get a | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
clobbering tomorrow. For right now we have showers affecting the | :25:16. | :25:18. | |
eastern half of the region, still falling as now, but we have got a | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
slight lull in proceedings in between. That goes through the | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
middle part of tonight when the temperatures and the winds will drop | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
and they will lead to some frost and ice problems. As you saw, we had | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
lots of white patches in the region and they will produce two or three | :25:33. | :25:38. | |
centimetres of snow. The leading edge of the next weather system will | :25:39. | :25:41. | |
come into contact with the cold air and turned to snow. That estimate of | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
snowfall is quite conservative and could be more than that. You will | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
probably wake up to snow tomorrow morning, not just falling at higher | :25:52. | :25:54. | |
levels, but also at lower levels and could just be about anywhere but the | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
transition between that and the next system piling in from the West is | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
going to be pretty seamless. That will all revert back to rain as the | :26:04. | :26:05. | |
temperatures rise slightly because we have got a warm sector going | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
through it in the middle part of the day. We are looking at a lot of rain | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
and those strong winds, that will finally clear away to drier | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
conditions by the end of the day and perhaps a spot of sunshine, taking | :26:18. | :26:20. | |
temperatures up to eight or nine Celsius and gusts of around 60 mph. | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
Finally, we are looking at things coming down to tomorrow night but | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
still some showers and a good till all as snow in some places but this | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
will set the trend for Thursday is self which is actually looking much | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
camera. Just a few showers dotted about but he largely dry day and the | :26:39. | :26:40. | |
driest of the week. Thank you. | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
Back now to our top story tonight, and the rising river levels which | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
threaten even more flooding later this week. | :26:49. | :26:48. | |
Thank you. Back now to our top story Cath | :26:49. | :26:50. | |
Mackie is in the heart of Worcester for us now. What's likely to happen | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
in the next 48 hours, Cath? It really is a waiting game. I have | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
been told by agency staff in Ironbridge have put on life jackets | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
as a precaution and I have been informed that the river bridge in | :27:03. | :27:05. | |
Worcester will be closing at 8pm. The best thing is to listen to the | :27:06. | :27:12. | |
BBC Radio Ulster nation but with 39 flood warnings and 41 flood alerts, | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
it really is a worrying time for local people across Worcestershire | :27:18. | :27:19. | |
and other parts of the Midlands this evening. `` listen to the BBC local | :27:20. | :27:27. | |
radio stations. Tonight's main headline from the | :27:28. | :27:30. | |
BBC: More communities hit by floods ` in the Thames Valley as well as | :27:31. | :27:33. | |
the West Midlands. The Prime Minister warns it'll get worse | :27:34. | :27:36. | |
before it gets better. That was the Midlands Today. I'll be | :27:37. | :27:39. | |
back at ten o'clock with the night's football results and the latest | :27:40. | :27:42. | |
update on river levels, including a live report from Ironbridge. Have a | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
good evening and we leave you with pictures of the swollen | :27:47. | :28:33. | |
It was only for a second or two but I know - | :28:34. | :28:41. | |
You're dragging up the past and into our house. She's my family | :28:42. | :28:46. |