23/12/2012 BBC Weekend News

Flooding causes further damage and disruption to parts of the UK and

more rain is forecast tonight. The South West of England is badly hit,

blocking railway networks on one of the busiest weekends of the year.

In Scotland, one of the worst affected areas is Aberdeen show,

where dozens of people are forced to leave their homes. This is just

complete devastation. And the people are traumatised to now,

traumatised. Worcestershire Acute Hospital Trust

apologises to families and pays compensation after failings in its

care. And it is the Christmas number one.

The Hillsborough tribute single Good evening. The Environment

Agency is warning of more heavy rain tonight, which could cause

further flooding. 170 flood warnings are in force across

England, Scotland and Wales. Transport has been disrupted after

railway lines were blocked and there have been delays on the roads,

too. On that in a moment. Though to the South West of England now,

where it is the second flooding this month.

They are tough enough to carry trains, but buckled under the sheer

strength of this water. The rocks that support these railways

sleepers simply swept away in its path. This main route disappearing

under the swollen river X and cutting off much of the South West

of England. As soon as the water stops flowing, it will take

engineers 48 hours to replace that track and get his main line from

Paddington to Plymouth back up and running. At the moment there is

nothing they can do and the job now is to stop that water flowing down

the track. And mainly to stop it reaching that road building behind

the bridge in the background. That is where the signalling his house.

If that floods, the line could be out for up to three weeks.

Rescue workers used booms, giant bags that fill with water, to

divert the river back to its natural path. As the water slowly

lost its strength, it became clear this major route would be out of

action until after Christmas. water has come down from the drains

into the kitchen. David owns the Chinese restaurant next door.

Instead of serving Christmas parties, he is watching beer

bottles bobbing on his dining room floor. We have lost a lot of trade

but also the insurance does not cover it because of the flood plain.

In the South West of Scotland, the weather caused scenes of chaos. In

Aberdeenshire, the river burst its banks and rescue teams were helping

people flooded from their homes. This is just complete devastation

and the people are traumatised now, traumatised. In South Wales, the

heavy rain fell on already soaking ground. This money landslide heavy

enough to smash through a back door. -- miniature landslide. Homes were

evacuated, vehicles abandoned, with the flood water pushing into

people's houses just two days before Christmas. You have lost

your home and all of your belongings and you are never going

to replace some of the Bibles that you had. -- valuables. Overnight in

North Devon, police helicopter found a person in floodwater on

their night-vision camera. The woman had been swept from her car

and was later rescued clinging to a tree. Her husband had been with her

and saw the fast-flowing current striker downstream. -- drag her

down stream. I thought I would never see her again. Shaken up, but

before I came down here, we are glad to be alive. Seen from above,

it is clear just how much water has nowhere to go. For homeowners and

emergency services alike, it is simply a nervous wait for more rain

tonight. The flooding has caused huge

disruption to those hoping to travel on one of the biggest

weekends of the year. Many railway routes will not be running as

normal until after Christmas. Passengers waiting at London's

Paddington station. For those hoping to travel to the West

Country, the signs warned that might take longer than planned. The

trains have been leaving on time but they have not been there was

one point went to the left as far as you could see it was just

flooding. It looked like a train going through an ocean. I am going

to go today rather than waiting to see if it is better tomorrow

because nobody wants to travel on Christmas Eve if they can help it.

I knew it would be difficult so while out some extra time this end.

Just go with the flow. -- so I allowed some extra time.

services have been bridging the gap but that has meant delays. What can

you do? We thought we were going to catch a coach but now the trains

seem to be back on. We don't know what we are doing so it is

confusing. The weather has caused problems for drivers, too. This was

a section of the A90 in Aberdeenshire. Minor roads in some

areas have become impassable. This video shows the surface of one road

in Somerset torn apart by flooding. More overnight rain could bring

further disruption. The two are over rain is already saturated so

rainfall will cause problems. -- because of the rain, the ground is

already saturated. Tomorrow could prove to be challenging for

travellers with long journeys still ahead of them.

Our correspondent is in the village of Saltford in Somerset tonight.

More rain on the way. What kind of impact is it likely to have? Well,

a lot of people across a wide area are understandably anxious about

the next few days and the Christmas holidays. Take this river, the

River Avon, fill to the brim once again. People here have been hit

twice in the last couple of weeks. Could it possibly happen again?

Sadly the answer is that there will be more flooding somewhere in the

country over the next few days. The Environment Agency is saying

tonight that more rain is coming in, and particularly vulnerable places

in Cornwall and North Devon, that have had a hammering over the last

few days, could well get a hammering again tonight and into

Christmas Day itself. One Environment Agency officer said to

me that the whole country is so saturated, so soaking wet, that

there is nowhere for the water to go. Until we get a sustained dry

period, this is going to become quite normal. This is not good news

for the next few days. That is it from here for now. We will have a

weather update after this bulletin. Thank you.

You can keep fully up to date on the flooding by visiting our

website. And more specifically on In other news, the Health Secretary

Jeremy Hunt says he is disgusted and appalled by the accounts of

failures of care at Worcestershire Acute Hospital Trust. The families

of 38 people have taken legal action after claims that patients

were left starving, dehydrated and unwashed. The trust has apologised

to families and agreed to pay compensation.

Thirsty but their drinks were left out of reach. Not washed for 11

weeks. Left to sit in their own excrement and in one case allowed

to starve to death. These are just some of the many damning claims

about standards at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch in

Worcestershire. After legal action, the hospital now agrees that care

was not good enough. 78 year-old David died in September, 2010,

after suffering Alzheimer's. His daughter believes he was neglected

by staff. Although she did not complain at the time she now wishes

that she had. I bitterly regret not complaining about it. At the time,

because there was so much going on, and he had had a lot of care when

he came out of hospital, we did not actually make an official complaint

which I regret. I feel like I let him down. In a statement, Jeremy

Last month, the trust wrote to the families and patients involved and

apologised for the lack of care. They also send them around �10,000

each in compensation. But managers have not admitted any legal

liability. The hospital says it has now turned things around. As a

consequence of rigorous clinical governance, changes have been made

to make sure patient care is excellent which has resulted in a

trust producing a standard of the tour mortality index below the

national average. -- Hospital mortality index. Hospital is also

looking at ways for patients to give immediate feedback about the

care they are receiving, which could avert the neglect that took

place at the Alexandra Hospital. Serie activists say that 90 people

were killed today in an air strike on a bakery in Hama. -- Syrian

activists. Halfaya was recently seized by the rebels. Women and

children are among the dead. Bernard Hogan-Howe has said there

will be a ruthless search for the chief in the investigation into the

accusations that Andrew Mitchell called police when plebs. He denies

that and says he was the victim of a smear campaign. Bring us up to

date with the developments today. You might have thought that back in

September an argument over whether a Government minister could take

his bike through the front gates was quite trivial. But tonight it

is so serious that the top cop, Bernard Hogan-Howe, broke into his

Christmas break for 24 hours to ensure that there would be a

relentless search for truth about the incident. He has been verbally

battered by some Conservative politicians. First of all Andrew

Mitchell himself. He said that the allegation that he called police at

Downing Street pleb was concocted to injure the Tory party and

destroy his career. And then his colleagues said there was need to

cut out the cancer of corruption at the police and David Davis wondered

if there had been a conspiracy. Despite the sound and fury, the

official police records says that Andrew Mitchell called police

officers plebs in September. And on the other side of this, he says

quite clearly that he did not. But there has been no conclusive proof

either way. Thank you.

Between 800,000 up to 1 million children in Iraq have lost one or

both of their parents according to research by UNICEF and the

Government in Baghdad. It is a huge problem in a country with no child

protection laws and only a fraction of the support services needed.

Brothers Mustafa and Murtada are being cared for in a private

orphanage. They lost their mother in a shoot-out in the streets.

Their father disappeared during the height of the sectarian wars in

Iraq. At least they have each other. Safe, withdrawn 12 year-old has no

one. His parents were both killed in a bomb in 2005 which also

injured him. I don't remember them, he told me. I was small. A man came

and took me away. Afterwards he explained what had happened to them.

There is no life when you have lost your mother and father. Every

single one of these boys has a harrowing story. The sheer number

of orphans has created a social crisis. Some fear it could

exacerbate the security problems in Iraq. If they are not properly

looked after, they could be recruited by terrorists. These

orphans will be exploited and will be like bombs, threat to the Iraqi

security in the future. We came to see what life is like in a state

run orphanage. And this is what we found. This is a dilapidated,

unloved looking place. The 52 children here are properly clothed

and fed, but one staff member told us this orphanage was better

resourced in the days of Saddam Hussein. He felt like a bird in a

cage. Mustafa is the oldest boy in the orphanage and when he was 11

both of his parents were killed. Every day I sit and cry. Maybe in

the future we will be involved in crimes because there is nothing but

for us. A senior official told that he was doing what he could but the

orphans of Iraq are not seen as a political priority. The money

allocated formerly on that issue is very limited. I want to change and

reform the laws so that I can provide better services and welfare

for the children of this country. The needs of fast. With Barnes and

assassinations still happening here every day, the number of orphans

keeps growing. -- bombs and assassinations.

The Queen missed the church service at Sandringham this morning because

she is suffering from a cold. A spokesperson said that she was

recovering and they're expecting business as usual next week.

The Hillsborough tribute single topped the charts tonight to become

the 2012 Christmas number one. Justice Collective's version of He

Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother sold more than a quarter of a million

copies, outselling the debut single of the winner of The X Factor,

James Arthur. Ahead of this evening's highly

anticipated announcement, there were tense faces inside and outside

the Radio One studio. This week had been seen as a battle between the

Justice Collective and James Arthur, the winner of The X Factor this

year. But in the end, Justice Collective won by more than 45,000

copies. 2012 your Christmas number one is the Justice Collective!

# With many a winding turn. The Hillsborough tribute single, a

reworking of The Hollies's He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother Features 20

different artists. Including Sir Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams.

The money it raises will be used to provide legal support for the

families of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster. Moments

after learning they had achieved the Christmas number one, members

of the group including Holly Johnson gave their reaction. It is

really exciting, actually. I am just so happy for the families. It

shows a wave of love and support for them and their plight. More

than for us. You know, people care. It is not a novelty record. It is

not a contestant from The X Factor. It is a really important cause and

this could have happened to anybody, any teenager, any family. And just

to know that the British public feel for the families and they are

right behind them is so important. Earlier this week a new police

investigation was announced in to Hillsborough and there will also be

inquests into the deaths of the 96 Liverpool football fans who died as

a result of the disaster. Beating the No. 1 spot today is not just

about the money the single will bring in. It has also been

invaluable in helping maintain public awareness of what the

families have called their continuing fight for justice.