08/02/2014 South Today

Good afternoon. I'm Roger Finn. First the rain, now the wind. Gusts

of up to 70 mph are forecast to hit the south coast later this

afternoon. A severe flood warning was issued for Chiswell in Portland,

where wave heights could reach up to nine metres. In Reading, army

reserves are on stand`by with sandbags to prevent flooding from

the Thames. And last night, the River Test burst its banks, flooding

parts of Romsey, from where Steve Humphrey reports.

Romsey is continuing to grapple with some major flood problems this

morning. Amongst the properties that have been badly affected are along

the bash those along this road. Our house, the floor, is under two feet

of water, as are the seven properties in the road. As I

understand it, the River Test our peer has burst its banks at at least

about in at least three places. The waters are rising. What are you

going to do? We will wait until the water levels have subsided. Can't do

very much at the moment. We still have power at the moment, and if we

lose power, we will have to move into temporary accommodation. Thank

you. All of this is the result of torrential rain continuing to fall.

January was the wettest months since 1910, in February, we have had rain

falling on already saturated ground, which has led to all of this

flooding. Plenty more information on the

flooding situation on your BBC local website, of course, and tomorrow's

Sunday Politics programme. We will be looking at whether flood

prevention schemes and their associated costs are the way

forward. Joining them for a chat will be Newbury MP and former floods

minister Richard Benyon. About 200 family and friends

gathered this morning to pay their last respects at the funeral of

17`year`old Jayden Parkinson. The teenager's body was found in a

church cemetery in Didcot in December, after she had been

reported missing. Jayden's ex`boyfriend Ben Blakeley, from

Reading, has been charged with her murder.

In the Winter Olympics at Sochi, there was disappointment for

Southampton's Billy Morgan. He finished tenth in the snowboard

slopestyle final. There had been high hopes following his display in

the semis, but Morgan fell on both of his final runs. Back home, family

and friends had an early start. They watched live from 5:30am near the

dry slope where Billy trained when he was a youngster. If I had landed

that right, I'm sure it would have been good. It was big, and the rails

at the top were pretty good. I'm pretty sure I did all right, but

that's the name of the game. You have to land your feet.

We'll have a full round`up of our football scores on this evening's

bulletin just after 7pm. And don't forget your BBC Local Radio station

will have coverage throughout the afternoon.

Lets get the weather forecast now. We still have some windy weather to

come. Parts of the coast could see some very strong gust for today and

tonight. Some very strong showers through the afternoon as well.

Temperatures not pleasant with the showers and with the strength of the

wind. These are the average wind speeds. The gusts will be much

stronger, along the coast. `` particularly along the coast. Wet

and windy again on Tuesday. That's it from us. Our next news is

tonight at 7pm. Have a very good afternoon.

evening. -- the winds will ease Good afternoon. It is yet another

stormy day to day with heavy rain around and very strong winds. The

Met office has issued an amber warning for the strong winds. They

could be disruptive and damaging. This is the latest in a string of

storms that we have seen this winter. For southern England, this

looks like one of the wettest winters for 250 years. Scotland saw

the wettest December 4/100