25/11/2012 BBC Weekend News

Over 200 flood warnings in place across central and southern England,

after days of torrential rain. Flooded roads and railways isolate

some hard-hit communities, with hundreds of people forced out of

their homes. In Exeter, a woman has died after a tree fell on to her

tent as she slept. It has come in all the rooms. We have the latest

on the struggle to save homes and possessions, as forecasters warn of

more bad weather. Also tonight: New laws to protect people from

stalkers come into force. And Jenson Button wins the Brazilian

Grand Prix, but it is Sebastian Vettel who is crowned Formula One

Good evening. Flood affected parts of southern and central England are

experiencing more rain tonight, further isolating communities who

have born the brunt of days of extreme weather. Over00 days have

been flooded 400 homes have been flooded. The Prime Minister said

everything possible will be done to help. Our first report is from our

correspondent, Jon Kay, who has been to some of the worst-affected

areas. They battled with buckets. This was Somerset in the early

hours of this morning. Villagers scoping to save their homes.

This is even worse than Wednesday. It's absolutely horrendous. But no

bucket could deal with this. In the Devon village of Kenford, by the

time they had woken up, it was too late. It has come in all the rooms.

Cornwall's rescue services said they had never known a night like

it. 100 properties flooded in this county alone.

One pub, in Millbrook was deluged for the third time in as many weeks.

There was nothing we could do. Nothing! It was coming in this door,

the back door. We could not stop it. By daylight, the West Country was

more like the wet country! This, the railway line outside Exeter.

High winds added to the chaos. A young woman was crushed to death by

a falling tree. She had been camping underneath. 100 miles away,

the weather was still causing problems. More rescues - this time

in Wiltshire. The historic market town of Malmesbury, now rewriting

local history. Everybody you talk to will say they have never seen

anything like this before. In the last week more than 800 homes have

been flooded, most of them in southern England. Tonight, there

are warnings in many parts of Britain and there is yet more to

come. The trouble is, once again, it has been raining for pretty much

most of the day here. That means rivers are full and flowing fast.

It means another worrying night for Petra. Already flooded once, now

fearing a second time. I am starting to think - what is next?

What's next - well, she won't like the answer. After a weekend which

has pushed communities to the limit, it is forecast to be another

difficult start to the working week. The Government says 20,000 homes

have been saved from flooding by recently constructed defences. In

Kemsey, in Worcestershire, dozens of homes had to be evacuated after

the failure of a costly defence system.

In a village flooded 20 times in the last 30 years, new flood

defences were supposed to keep them dry. Last night, they failed.

Householder Dan is counting the cost. Because of the flood defences,

we were in... We didn't expect it to happen. We had not moved

everything upstairs. We were not prepared for this. Obviously if the

flood defences weren't in, we would have moved everything up because of

all the warnings that were on the news any way. As the nearby River

Severn rose, householders rushed to save themselves and their

belongings. This was the lounge and this is where the water started oh

come in first of all -- started to come in first of all.

Literally had about ten minutes, five or ten minutes to do as much

as we could before the flood damaged all my furniture. This

morning, engineers were examining the new �1.7 million flood defences

that just didn't work. So, what went wrong? In the middle of the

night one of the two pumps that is meant to move the water from the

village into the River Severn just didn't switch on.

The Environment Agency says hundreds of other flood defences

did hold, protecting thousands of homes. That's little consolation to

those in Kemsey, who thought they were safe, only to find themselves

clearing up after their defences proved anything but water-tight.

Let's return to Devon and Cornwall now, one of the worst affected

areas. Jon Kay is for us in Exeter. How is it looking there? It is

looking bad again. It is pouring with rain, yet again. Another wild

evening here. People are dreading what comes next. If I step out of

the way you can see the effect of all this extra rain. People have

come here to take pictures of the River Exe, because they say they

have never seen it this angry looking, this noisy before, in

decades. Make no mistake, we might be talking about the south-west of

England here, there might be more flooding tonight in Devon and

Cornwall, but this has been described by the Environment Agency

as "a national flood crisis." There are warnings from North Yorkshire,

Nottinghamshire - many parts of the UK are affected. The advice is two-

fold - look at the Environment Agency website to see if the area

you are in is vulnerable. If so, make precautions. Secondly, get

more advice from your BBC local radio station, not just tonight,

but crucially tomorrow morning - rush hour, the beginning of a

working week - that information could save you an awful lot more

trouble. Thank you. A new law making stalking a

specific criminal offence has come into force in England and Wales.

The change was recommended by a parliamentary inquiry. Crime

statistics have shown as many as three million women have

experienced some form of stalking. Our legal affairs correspondent

reports. Stalking instills fear and can ruin

the lives of victims. Often described as persistent and

repeated contact with or attempts to contact a person who does not

want it. Dr Alison Hewitt and her family were subjected to what a

judge described as deliberate and chilling stalking by an ex-partner.

I was completely paranoid. I didn't want to go into the bathroom and

lock the door. I needed everything open so I could see what was going

on and who might be around and any changes in the light if somebody

walked past the door. Stalking is prosecuted as harassness. High

figure cases have been the targets of unwanted attention. It is a much

wider problem. Around 120,000 victims, mostly women, are stalked

each year. Just 53,000 are recorded as crimes. Only one in 50 leads to

an offender being jailed. Up until now, there's been no specific

criminal offence of stalking. But that all changes today, with new

offences coming into force. Stalking, which carries a maximum

of six months' imprison and stalking involving a fear of

violence or serious distress, which carries a maximum term of five

years. Will the new offences make a difference? These new offences will

clarify the law. They will afford the public greater protection. In

particular women, who are generally the victims of stalking and

therefore, these new offences of stalking are undoubtedly to be

welcomed. Police and prosecutors will be especially trained and

given greater powers to gather evidence. The Government hopes all

this will help tackle the nightmare of stalking.

More than 100 people are known to have died at a fire in a clothing

factory in Bangladesh. Hundreds were trapped when the fire started

on the ground floor of a nine- storey building, just to the north

of the capital, Dhaka. Some of those who died had jumped from the

windows trying to escape the flames. Polls are about to close in the

Spanish region of Catalonia in an election which could put the unity

of Spain at stake, just as it deals with its worst economic crisis for

decades. Nationalist parties are promising a referendum on

independence if they win, amid deep discontent with the central

Government's austerity measures. Spain is the fourth largest economy

in the eurozone. Any indication of how this will turn out? It looks

like a high turnout. That is unsurprising. This is an important

election. We expect Catalan pro- independence parties to win this

election. What happens next though is less certain. The Government

here, the Catalan Government wants to hold a referendum on

independence from Spain. The Spanish Government is vehemently

opposed to that and will probably block any move for that to happen

in the future. The fear is there'll be political uncertainty. Here in

this region, which will affect the rest of Spain. Of course the

Spanish economy is trying to get out of a deep recession, with

record levels of unemployment and rising debt. We have spoken to

people all week, who with their hearts would vote in favour of

independence, but when it comes to voting with their heads, they would

be less certain because of the unknowns, if you like. What would

this mean for the economy here? We will hear the word Scotland here

more and more. A lot argue if Britain can give the opportunity to

Scotland to have a referendum on independence, why shouldn't that

happen here? Thank you very much.

Now the sport. Thank you. Good evening. Sebastian

Vettel is the Formula One world champion for the third year in a

row. Lewis Hamilton was on pole position in his last outing with

McLaren, but he did not finish a race which had drama from the very

start. Many sporting journeys seem to be

heading towards Brazil right now. With the title race reaching the

season finale Formula One joined the party. Fourth place, or better

was all that Sebastian Vettel required. Rival, Fernando Alonso,

with it all to do. While the sport prepares to welcome its next

champion it is a day of emotional farewells here. Lewis Hamilton's

last race for McLaren. A last race for the legend he will replace here

at Mercedes next season, Michael Schumacher, before he retires.

we go.... With rain adding to the tension, drama was guaranteed. A

few seconds after the start came this. Vettel hit, and sent spinning

to the back of the field. In spite of the damage to his car,

Vettel proved why he's the reigning champion, flying through the pack

and back up to fifth by lap 16. With Hamilton and another leader

colliding, he had his chance. Now a point behind Vettel n a tilt race

that was going to the wire. Then -- in a title race that was going to

the wire. Then it meant the race would finish under the safety car.

Jenson Button led over the line. Vettel, the champion once again, by

just three points. With sixth place, Sebastian Vettel is the 2012

Formula One world champion. So, as one German greats retires, another

stakes his claim w a third successive title.

Brilliant batting performances from Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook

have given England a chance of wining the second Test against

India. Centuries helped England to a commanding position.

Strolling into history. Before today, only three England batsmen

had made 22 Test centuries. These two were about to do it ten minutes

apart. Captain first. Cook moving to 100 in an assured fashion. Not

long later, Pietersen would join the club too. The next milestone

was India's first innings score. Cook would not take England that

far. Batting was becoming uncomfortable, unless you were

Pietersen. He's apparently being reintegrated into the England team.

This was some bonding exercise. By the time it ended, Pietersen's side

were ahead and the spin which manage him one of Ojha's five will

be a useful tool in English hands. Facing 86 and devilment in the

pitch, India disintegrated. The hosts seemed terrified of him

and Swann. Tendulkar surrended to Panesar. He was far from alone. By

the time he had Ashwin, Montgomerie had five and India had lost seven.

Their lead just 31. Their series lead should be short lived.

Rafael Benitez took charge of Chelsea for the first time today

but was booed by his own fans during their game against

Manchester City. He brought Torres back to the starting line-up. The

game finished 0-0. Ricky Hatton has announced his

retirement from boxing for the second time, following the defeat

to Vyacheslav Senchenko in Manchester. Hatton last fought in