01/01/2014 Spotlight

Good evening. Rescuers have tonight suspended their search for a man

swept out to sea after celebrating the New Year near Porthleven. The

operation will resume tomorrow. The 27`year`old was with friends at Loe

Bar Beach in the early hours of this morning when he disappeared. They'd

been on holiday in the area. It's the second such incident in 24

hours. A woman died yesterday after being pulled from the water near

Croyde. Police are warning people not to enter the sea in bad weather.

Leigh Rundle reports from Porthleven. What more memorable spot

to see in the New Year than this remote Cornish beach? But in

darkness, the group who were holidaying near by perhaps failed to

spot the warning signs. Coastguard teams have spent the day and most of

last night scouring Porthleven for any sign of the missing man. They

had gone into the sea only a very shallow distance. Unfortunately one

of them appears to have lost their footing and ended up in the sea. The

conditions you can see behind us are atrocious. Last night we were faced

with driving rain, sea conditions as they are now, very rough and five or

six metre swells. As conditions worsened, a search and rescue

helicopter from Culdrose was recalled, along with two lifeboats.

Primarily, we were relying on the coastguards on foot, walking the

shoreline, walking the cliff paths to try and spot the man in the

water. The 27`year`old man from Surrey is the second victim of

treacherous seas in 24 hours. While stormy conditions remain, police and

rescue services are urging anyone visiting the region's beaches to

take extra care. With poor conditions continuing today a

kayaker has been rescued from the River Dart and firefighters have

helped people stuck in cars in Honiton and South Brent. John

Henderson reports. The east Devon village of Feniton on full alert

this morning. So far there have been no reports of homes being flooded.

The River Dart in fall spate, a kayaker was stranded on an island in

the middle of a swollen live near Buckfastleigh. A special rescue team

of firefighters from Exeter used throwlines to bring the canoeist to

safety. Travel was precarious ` roads were flooded, there were

several reports of people having to be rescued from their cars in Devon.

There were delays on the railways, with flooding in the Tiverton

Parkway area and the track Axminster. Driving rain and heavy

seas in Plymouth and more is on the way tonight ` 32 flood warnings and

54 flood alerts across the South West, forecasters are predicting

strong winds, torrential downpours and further flooding in the coming

days. It's being reported in India that a multi`million pound order put

in to the Yeovil helicopter manufacturer Agusta Westland has

been cancelled. The Government contract for 12 luxury aircraft has

been in the balance since allegations surfaced last year that

it may have been won through bribery. The company has always

denied the claims. Today's sporting fixtures took a battering from the

weather. Both Exeter City and Yeovil Town's games were postponed because

of waterlogged pitches, but in the Devon derby Plymouth Argyle ran out

2`0 winners over Torquay United at Home Park. On`loan striker Caolan

Lavery put the Pilgrims ahead on the hour with his third goal for the

club. And with five minutes remaining, Lewis Alessandra sealed

the win when he was left unmarked. Argyle's third victory in four games

sees them move into the top half of the table, while defeat for Torquay

means they remain in the relegation zone. The weather continues to

dominate the headlines and there's another band of rain on the way.

Here's Holly. Hello there, we have some heavy, blustery showers working

their way across us tonight. Some quite organised and we have a Met

Office yellow warning for rain for the first part of tonight. However,

through the early hours the showers will become more scattered. So we

start the day tomorrow with some showers from the word go. They are

being driven through on blustery wind. But we will see sunny spells.

Before cloud thickens and this area of wet and windy weather sweeps in.

Thereafter as we head into Friday, we have some strong winds and some

squally showers and we have another Met Office yellow warning in force

for rain for Friday. And it stays unsettled for the weekend. So with

no let up in the weather ` tune in to your BBC local radio breakfast

show for the latest travel news. I'm back at 20`to`11 this evening. Bye

for now. Hello. It is a New Year but it is

the same old weather. Flood warnings are on the rise. The flood line

number is on screen if you are at all concerned. Still some rain to

come this evening and overnight. Still some heavy bursts. It will

push the way towards the east taking the strongest winds with it. It did

in temperature across the Highlands. Temperatures are holding up fairly

well. Tomorrow, I can offer you a glimpse of brightness. Quite it

isn't over getting out and about. Many places staying dry. -- quite a

decent day for getting out and about. There will be some long,