30/01/2014 BBC Points West

Good evening. After weeks of feeling ignored, people in the flooded

Somerset Levels found themselves at the centre of a political and

military operation today. Just hours after the Prime Minister took charge

of the situation, the Army were sent in to assess the situation. Clinton

Rogers reports. It has been a day when the military came, took a

look, went away, had a meeting and decided they were not needed, for

now anyway. People who live in the village of Muchelney said that they

should have pressed the panic button 34 weeks ago when they really needed

them. Scott Ellis has been following some strange development throughout

the day. They are not hearing for spot are taking a closer look at the

floods around Muchelney. Two oil engineer is attached to the Royal

Marines asking Somerset County Council if flood victims need more

help. I have seen it on the news and they have seen it on TV. After

driving round today, you do not get an understanding of how big a task

it is until you come down to see it yourself. There are 100 commandos

based in Taunton on stand`by ready to help. But all this was declared a

major incident zone almost a week ago. Residents are wondering why all

the fuss now. We are actually managing quite well now. It has just

gone on too long. But he wouldn t say no to the military helping? No.

More rain and high tides are on the way. And more high`volume pumps `

ten of them. The fire service are also bringing in two hovercraft `

and more 4X4s. Officials saying the military, as yet, aren't needed

What the military can bring is a quick response with additional

resources, should we require them. At this stage we are comfortable

that the civil contingencies we have in place are enough. While everyone

gears up for another wet weekend, the area's drainage board published

a new report. It maps out what action they think needs to be taken

to improve drainage on the Somerset Levels in future years. Top of the

list ` dredging the rivers Parrett and Tone. But also measures to slow

and reduce water run`off further up. There is a need for a sluice gate

below Bridgwater to hold back the tides. Finally, they admit, the most

vulnerable households will have to relocate. At the end of the day

then, maybe people who need help to become more resilient, or to adapt,

or as a very last result, be helped should away. The scale of dredging

will be enormous. 200,000 tonnes of earth and silt will have to be

moved. The cost estimated at ?4 million. All eyes are on the weather

because we are told that up to 0 millimetres of rain could be on the

way. Whilst water levels in Muchelney are beginning to recede,

that amount of rain is bound to bring the water levels right up

again. People here are hoping for the best but fearing the worst.

That's our Somerset correspondent, Clinton Rogers. This week the

flooding issue has proved to be something of a roller`coaster for

the Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson. I'm joined by our

Political Editor, Paul Barltrop What is the latest from the

Government on this? They are anxious to show that they are getting to

grips with the problem but the difficulty is knowing exactly what

to do. Yesterday the Environment Secretary ordered in the military

and today we headed that they are not exact `` they are not needed. So

this evening, an admission from the Minister that the guidelines that

the Government has for how the money is spent may need to change. The

Environment Agency has performed extraordinarily well protecting 1.1

million people but the parameters that are set nationally on where

they put the long`term efforts do not apply to the very specialist to

reign of the Somerset Levels. `` terrain. It is not the first time

that the Government has changed tack. Yes, he came up with a plan

within six weeks that was eclipsed romantically at Prime Minister s

questions when David Cameron said they should dredge as soon as the

floodwaters went down, and that seemed to overrule his very own

Environment Secretary. I think it was a slap down. He has completely

changed the approach of the Government to what is going on down

there. All of a sudden we have seen urgency and intervention that could

have happened weeks ago but didn't. So, can they solve the problem of

the Somerset Levels? People will tell you that the Somerset Levels

are often flooded in the past. They had two consecutive winters when

they flooded 20 years ago. Politicians argued over it but back

then, both rivers, Tone and Parrett where being dredged and it did not

stop the flooding. Plans to bring dangerous nuclear waste to the West

are being discussed. At the moment, waste produced at nuclear power

stations here is routinely transported to Sellafield, to be

processed and stored. But current proposals could see it just being

moved locally from South Gloucestershire to Hinkley in

Somerset. Anti`nuclear protesters are objecting to the plans. The

former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown and his wife have survived a

car accident in which a 49`year`old man died. Lord Ashdown's wife was

driving on a country road near their home when they were involved in a

collision with two other vehicles. The couple are reported to be very

upset and have Now to the weather, and Ian

Fergusson has our evening forecast. Good evening, we have another amber

weather warning for the Somerset Levels for tomorrow that will carry

through to Saturday. Tomorrow we could see pretty much an inch of

rain. That will be decidedly unhelpful. Tomorrow morning will be

a cold one. This area of persistent rain will last for six or seven

hours through the course of the morning and be windy as well toss up

temperatures dropping widely to freezing tonight, maybe a couple of

degrees below in some spots. Tomorrow morning, some hints of

brightness once the early mist clears but it will not be long

before the rain crosses the M5, the coming heavy as we come through the

cause of the afternoon, and it will be take King awhile before it

clears. And some heavy showers following on behind. Temperatures

tomorrow around eight Celsius. That's all from us. We are back

tomorrow from 6:30am on BBC Breakfast. From all of us here, good

very good night. Good evening. As we have seen, it

has been an exceptionally wet month and it is not even over yet. The

final day of January promises even more heavy rain and that is not the

only hazard. There could be some snow and strong winds over the next

48 hours. We have seen too many of these weather systems steaming in

from the Atlantic. It is not with this yet, however. Some