Browse content similar to 10/02/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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News at Six so it's goodbye from me, News at Six so it's goodbye from me, | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Hello, welcome to Midlands Today, coming to you from the city centre | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
of Worcester, facing its worst floods for years. The headlines | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
tonight: The river level is equal to the | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
floods of 2007. It's expected to go higher tomorrow. I am worried about | :00:14. | :00:21. | |
later in the week because it is going to come back again with the | :00:22. | :00:23. | |
river already feel. We'll be finding out just how well | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
the flood barriers have been working all along the Severn. Also this | :00:28. | :00:29. | |
evening: Just downstream homes have been | :00:30. | :00:31. | |
flooded, though. Why residents of this village say they've been | :00:32. | :00:39. | |
abandoned. Obviously a bigger village or town has to come first | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
but we are still people and still suffering. | :00:43. | :00:43. | |
Busy times for the emergency services rescuing people by boat | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
from the rising flood waters. Sadly there is very little comfort | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
in the forecast with further complications to come. I have to say | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
that rain is only part of the problem. Join me shortly for the | :00:57. | :00:58. | |
very latest. Good evening from the centre of | :00:59. | :01:14. | |
Worcester. Just behind me, the main bridge across the Severn was shut by | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
floodwater earlier today, cutting the city in two. It's open again now | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
but for how long? The river's already reached the level of the | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
devastating floods of 2007. Since then, flood barriers have | :01:28. | :01:34. | |
successfully protected homes. But all the signs are that the waters | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
will get even higher tomorrow. Cath Mackie has spent the day in a city | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
learning to live once more with the floods. | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
First light in Worcester and the sun rises revealing a city under | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
water... And a city almost cut in two. The historic bridge, a major | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
arterial route, was closed to traffic. | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
In the rush hour, the city centre roads were eerily quiet. But on the | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
outskirts, thousands of commuters were forced to find another way in. | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
The swans too were forced off course as the river and road merged into | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
one by Gheluvelt park. People living nearby waded home. But at least | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
their flood barriers were stopping the water from getting inside. The | :02:15. | :02:20. | |
river has been up and down constantly. I am worried about later | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
in the week because it is going to come back with the river already | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
fooled. Other than that, we are dry as a bone. The central bus station | :02:31. | :02:33. | |
is currently closed and buses diverted. Road works too have been | :02:34. | :02:36. | |
suspended. But by lunchtime, some good news ` the bridge was partially | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
opened to traffic. There are people working around the clock. The bridge | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
is open again however given the forecast and the amount of rain that | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
is coming down, or might, we cannot rule out the possibility of having | :02:52. | :02:54. | |
to close it again. With more rain expected, the river levels will be | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
going up and down all week so we can expect more road closures and more | :02:59. | :03:01. | |
disruption. And that'll impact on the local economy. Businesses are | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
worried. If they cannot get people into shop or eight or whatever it | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
may be. We got the bridge open as soon as we could and we will keep | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
managing it to make sure we get the best resilience out of the network. | :03:15. | :03:16. | |
Local businesses are hoping the message gets through. A job for | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
anybody to get through to deliver anybody to others have not been able | :03:22. | :03:23. | |
to this morning. No customers, obviously, because it has frightened | :03:24. | :03:30. | |
everybody away. Since we saw the impact of the flooding, I knew it | :03:31. | :03:33. | |
would be a quiet day today and hopefully it only lasts for maybe | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
today, maybe tomorrow and then we can get back to business. Since the | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
big flood of 2007, millions have been spent on flood defences along | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
the Severn and today they held. But Worcester's floodwaters remain a | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
wonder to behold. I have come from Manchester. It rains a lot but | :03:52. | :03:54. | |
nothing like this. What do you think? Let's have a look at the | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
weather terrible, absolutely terrible. Unbelievable. The city may | :03:59. | :04:01. | |
have witnessd scenes like this before but it doesn't make it any | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
easier. Cath Mackie, BBC Midlands Today, Worcester. | :04:06. | :04:07. | |
So far this city is coping well with the floods. Money spent on flood | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
barriers means we've seen nothing like the devastation and misery from | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
floods in the past. But south of Tewkesbury, the village of Chaceley | :04:15. | :04:17. | |
isn't protected. Homes have been flooded and families say they feel | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
abandoned, as Steve Knibbs has been finding out. | :04:22. | :04:29. | |
The population of this village is around 100 and flooding is a regular | :04:30. | :04:32. | |
occurrence. Roads and lanes are covered in several metres of water. | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
The only transport for the landlord of the local pub is by boat. We are | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
just busy getting everything out of the water. It is just going up and | :04:42. | :04:49. | |
up. This water arrived on Christmas Eve and has not gone away. What is | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
frustrating for the residents, and incredible when you think about it, | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
is that we are one mile away from the river. Unlike places like | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
Somerset, there are no pumps. Well rehearsed plans to protect homes | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
have been put in place when again. It is part of village life but does | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
not get any easier. Many here feared their plight is being ignored. We | :05:12. | :05:14. | |
are only a small village and there is only a few others. Obviously a | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
bigger village or town has to come first but we are still people and we | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
are still suffering, all of us along here in the village. I think we need | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
to have something done here also. The flooding is a 20th`century | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
problem. It is blamed on large`scale development on the flood plains and | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
pumps put in a further the river. As a result, it gets to Gloucester and | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
there is a massive constriction of the river in Gloucester, huge | :05:45. | :05:47. | |
development has taken place and we have on step. What happens is the | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
river reaches a pinch point, you cannot go through, it backs up and | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
comes over here. Villagers want a storm drain built by the Environment | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
Agency admits that current spending rules, requiring a good return on | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
investment, make it unlikely. In the meantime, people here are coping | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
stop but with the water still here after several weeks and nothing | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
being done, patience is thin. So what are the prospects of more | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
rain over the next few days making a critical situation even worse. | :06:21. | :06:23. | |
Shefali is back in the studio. Houses looking? Not really. We will | :06:24. | :06:30. | |
have quite a spell of weather this week but certainly, the emphasis is | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
still very much on ring. Not only that, it is going to be colder in | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
recent weeks. This is the air mass that we are currently buried under, | :06:39. | :06:41. | |
the expanse of blue. It is originating from the North. Rain and | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
cold is never a good combination of the best of times and this will lead | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
to snow on life. It is not to be taken lightly because there are | :06:51. | :06:58. | |
warnings for all three, and that will apply to a lot of places. | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
Dear oh dear. Downstream from here, flood barriers | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
have been protecting most homes in Upton on Severn. But there's still | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
been serious disruption to many people's lives, with bridges closed | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
and roads impassable. Ben Sidwell reports on the struggle to cope with | :07:12. | :07:21. | |
life by the rising waters. Being pulled to safety, yet another | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
victim of this winter's floods. Despite defensive around her | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
property, overnight this woman's home eventually succumbed to the | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
rising water. The water is coming in, yes. Everything has been lifted | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
or taken upstairs that we can. You know? Sheila is not alone. One of | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
her neighbours, who also had to be rescued, only moved into his house | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
in October. It has been three or four times since Christmas and it | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
has not come in the houses but there is so much that it has found a way | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
in and we cannot stop it. Out on the river itself, the rescue team can | :07:58. | :08:03. | |
get a good look at those still in potential danger. To give you some | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
idea of just how bad the river is, take a look behind me. That area | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
there, where a few things sticking out of the water, is the caravan | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
park. From the board, it is easy to see the extent of the flooding all | :08:18. | :08:20. | |
around the time. The water is coming up so quickly. It is really getting | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
people to a safe position as possible. The river here in Upton is | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
currently 5.4 metres above its normal level. As you can see on the | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
post behind me, in fact some way to go to match the level in 2007. There | :08:37. | :08:45. | |
is some good news in Upton. The majority of flood defences are | :08:46. | :08:48. | |
working and holding back the river. While the town may be dry, the water | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
has to go somewhere. Today, that somewhere included this man's home. | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
Have the flood defences worked against you? The water was so loud, | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
it was almost impossible to hear him. Harry said it was definitely | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
being pushed towards his eyes and he was now facing a constant battle | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
around the clock to save his own. `` towards his house. As another person | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
is risky, the worry is that they may not have seen the worst of the | :09:20. | :09:21. | |
flooding here. Well, a lot of attention has been | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
focused here in Worcester. But up and down the swollen River Severn, | :09:26. | :09:28. | |
people and communities have been having to cope with what nature has | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
thrown at them. There are 46 flood warnings across the region tonight | :09:32. | :09:39. | |
and 25 flood alerts. Ben Godfrey begins his report further upstream | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
along the Severn in Shrewsbury. The speed of the rising River Severn | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
is uncompromising at this car park near English Bridge in Shrewsbury. | :09:49. | :09:58. | |
Vehicles are being written off. There were about 24 cars here this | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
morning. Three quarters of those have been removed by the council or | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
owners. There are still six trapped in the water. | :10:08. | :10:09. | |
The Environment Agency says the Severn will peak in the town at | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
close to 4.5 metres, a level not seen for around a decade. | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
It is about four inches at the front of the garage and is just going to | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
get a deeper. Graeme MacLeod is rescuing his | :10:25. | :10:27. | |
belongings. Floodwater has seeped into his apartment near Wyle Cop. I | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
have only got two days left in this property. I have just signed the | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
lease for my new place so I am going to have to shift all the boxes. I | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
have already got boxes of year. It is unfortunate timing. Elsewhere, | :10:42. | :10:43. | |
the floodwaters have become something of a public spectacle on | :10:44. | :10:46. | |
the River Wye in Hereford. But a dangerous one. A motorist had to be | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
rescued by fire crews yesterday. The Avon burst its banks in Stratford. | :10:51. | :10:53. | |
In Bridgnorth, the Severn was swallowing everything in its path. | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
And as if the rain hadn't brought enough chaos, there was heavy snow | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
in Oswestry this morning. Standing water has made driving conditions | :11:04. | :11:12. | |
treacherous. Is there any driving technique that you can employ to | :11:13. | :11:15. | |
make your life easier? Nice and slow and steady like I say. Use a care if | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
you have got that or some sort of gauge. Not too fast. The unfortunate | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
thing is that you have got no control over people coming towards | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
you doing the same thing, you can double the depth of the water. In | :11:31. | :11:32. | |
Bredon, near Tewkesbury, pub regulars were determined to keep the | :11:33. | :11:35. | |
landlords out of deep water, proving community spirit is undiminished. | :11:36. | :11:38. | |
Despite the encroaching River Avon, this business is staying open. Some | :11:39. | :11:44. | |
of the customers that came in this morning drove up as near as they | :11:45. | :11:49. | |
could, came in, grabbed a there and fetched me sandbags and it is great. | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
It is a lovely little community pub and... You know, just hoping the | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
water does not finish me off. Tonight, though, it's back in | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
Shrewsbury where property may be at greatest risk after days of heavy | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
rain in North Shropshire and Powys. Barriers are up at Coleham Head and | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
the pumps are primed for action. Ben Godfrey, BBC Midlands Today, | :12:09. | :12:11. | |
Shrewsbury. Our environment correspondent David | :12:12. | :12:14. | |
Gregory Kumar has been assessing the situation for us. What's the overall | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
picture and why do these floods seem to have hit so hard, David? This is | :12:20. | :12:28. | |
the latest information. to have hit so hard, David? This is | :12:29. | :12:31. | |
the Over 30 flood warnings, clustered along the length of the | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
river from above Shrewsbury down to Gloucester. We also have flood | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
warnings in Hereford. That means people affected should be moving | :12:42. | :12:44. | |
their families, pets and valuables to a safe location and put any flood | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
protection equipment in place. Bridges in Worcester City Centre, | :12:50. | :12:52. | |
Bewdley and Upton upon Severn were closed during the day and roads in | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
and around Lemptster and Hereford are also affected by floodwater. And | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
why has all this happened? Well, the Environment Agency say in January | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
the Midlands saw 224% of average rainfall, making it the wettest | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
January on record in the Midlands. River flows across the region are | :13:09. | :13:11. | |
considerably higher than normal and our soils are saturated. So there's | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
a lot of water out there, more is coming, the ground is too wet to | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
soak it up, so we get flooding. So that's now, but how does this | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
compare to floods in the past and what's changed in how we cope with | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
them? Well, these are our most recent large flood events in the | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
Midlands. It's actually really hard to compare them because they can be | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
so different in terms of area affected and volume and duration of | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
rainfall. But in terms of properties flooded, things got progressively | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
worse from 1998 to 2007. But since 2007 here in the Midlands, there's | :13:46. | :13:48. | |
been massive investment in flood defences. The Environment Agency | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
have spent around ?20m pounds and all this investment means around | :13:53. | :13:55. | |
1,300 homes in the Severn catchment are now protected from flooding. And | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
around 2,000 homes across the midlands in total. Those are | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
properties that are dry today that would have been flooded in the past. | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
The River Severn is now at its highest level in Worcester since the | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
summer of 2007, our last major flood. Of course we won't know | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
exactly how this flood compares to others because this one isn't over | :14:20. | :14:22. | |
yet. Shefali will have the forecast later on. | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
Joining me now is Dave Throup from the Environment Agency. Good | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
evening. What's the situation tonight? It is fairly stable. The | :14:32. | :14:40. | |
Severn peaked earlier on but we are expecting it to peak again tomorrow | :14:41. | :14:42. | |
as the water comes down the catchment from Wales. Labels are | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
going to start to rise again. Worcestershire County Council said | :14:48. | :14:50. | |
that they reckon that great parts of the county could be closed for a | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
week. There is certainly a chance. These are the highest we have seen | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
since 2007 and particularly the rural and remote communities on the | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
larger areas of the flood plain, they are under water and will stay | :15:04. | :15:06. | |
that way for a while. Some people have contacted us because they're | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
worried debris is being swept against bridges blocking the flow | :15:10. | :15:12. | |
and that could create a dam effect. Is there anything you are able to do | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
about that? Not in the short`term. Not while the water levels are like | :15:17. | :15:19. | |
this. We have to wait for them to drop before we can safely get them | :15:20. | :15:22. | |
away. As soon as they do drop then we will tackle that. They do not | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
present an immediate dangers so we will tackle them when it is safe. Do | :15:27. | :15:29. | |
you expect the flood defences to hold in general? They're working | :15:30. | :15:35. | |
very well. We have got 1300 homes that are dry but would be wit. They | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
do not maintain ourselves and our guys are working 24/7 to make sure | :15:42. | :15:47. | |
that they are keeping people drive. If the levels are going to go up, | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
we'll still be enough? We are confident they will still be | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
protected. We are not expecting 2007 levels here. These are very high | :15:57. | :15:59. | |
levels but at the moment, they are manageable. It depends what really | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
get in the future. They much a layman 's question, if you have got | :16:04. | :16:06. | |
the defence is doing all these good jobs and protecting homes, but as | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
the water go? It pushes it further downstream. The displacement from a | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
flood defence is timely, in the scheme of things. Imagine the size | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
of the flood plain further down, it makes a very tiny difference. We | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
think of all that before we build any scheme. Thank you very much. | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
And of course this is a rapidly changing situation. So for all the | :16:29. | :16:31. | |
best local, up to date information, do tune into your BBC local radio | :16:32. | :16:33. | |
station. A round up of some other news. | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
Police are continuing to investigate a fire at a house in Dudley in which | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
a man died. Officers believe it was started deliberately. A 42`year`old | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
woman and two boys, aged nine and 15, got out of the house seconds | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
before the fire took hold at the property in the Holly Hall area on | :16:49. | :16:51. | |
Saturday. Police say they're not looking for anyone else in | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
connection with the fire. A kayaker found dead in a flooded | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
river in Wales has been named as Gareth Lockyer, from Warwick. The | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
34`year`old got into difficulty whilst on the River Usk in Powys | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
yesterday afternoon. His family have described him as a kind, caring and | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
gentle person. Covering 50 acres of a celebrated | :17:14. | :17:15. | |
landscape with polytunnels would be environmental vandalism, say | :17:16. | :17:23. | |
villagers in Gloucestershire. Plans by a farmer would allow him to grow | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
asparagus all year round. But protesters say it would destroy | :17:28. | :17:30. | |
views revered by some of our greatest poets. Bob Hockenhull | :17:31. | :17:39. | |
reports. The fields around this village in | :17:40. | :17:42. | |
Gloucestershire have been admired for decades. Some of our most famous | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
writers next year. They included World War I poets Edward Thomas and | :17:49. | :17:51. | |
Rupert Brooke, inspired by the countryside. This is one of the most | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
important literary landscapes in England. This is only part with the | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
Lake District, where Wordsworth wrote poetry. Why should this be any | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
different? Admirers of the poets are horrified modern farming practices | :18:09. | :18:11. | |
are intruding on the area. Poly tunnels have already been put up on | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
neighbouring fields. Tomorrow, plans to fill this is the valley with many | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
more will be discussed by planners. The traditional outdoor asparagus | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
season is 12 weeks. Henry has the `` says the pouring tunnels will allow | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
him to grow asparagus all year to meet a growing market. He says it | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
will prevent so much of the crop having to be imported from Peru, | :18:36. | :18:38. | |
cutting down on carbon dioxide emissions. Clearly our history is | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
important that we also have to look to the future. Yes, there will be | :18:44. | :18:46. | |
some visual impact from certain areas but I do not think it is | :18:47. | :18:53. | |
changing the landscape that drastically or permanently. The poly | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
tunnel proposals mean a footpath created in memory of the poets will | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
have to be changed. At the moment, the footpath follows the hedge at | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
the edge of the field. If the plans go ahead, instead, people will be | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
walking along this ridge. The difference of 120 metres. The | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
friends of the poets have created this small exhibition along the | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
trail. If I should die, think only this of me, that there is some | :19:22. | :19:24. | |
corner of a foreign field that is forever England. There shall be in | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
that rich earth, a richer dust concealed. For them, the words of | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
their heroes will be forever tainted if this much loved countryside is | :19:35. | :19:41. | |
covered with a sea of polythene. Poignant words they are too. | :19:42. | :19:43. | |
Police investigating the disappearance of Nicola Payne have | :19:44. | :19:46. | |
started to search a nature reserve in Coventry. Nicola went missing in | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
December 1991 and has never been found. Today, West Midlands Police | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
began searching in a small area of land in Binley. | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
Police say an investigation into allegations that the Midlands MEP | :19:58. | :20:00. | |
Nikki Sinclaire conspired to defraud the European Parliament is proving | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
to be long and complex. She was arrested in February 2012, with | :20:07. | :20:09. | |
three other people, as part of an inquiry into allowance and expenses | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
claims dating from 2010. Ms Sinclaire denies all the allegations | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
and is currently on bail until the end of May. | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
For the first time in nearly four years, West Midlands Police are | :20:23. | :20:24. | |
recruiting new officers. They'll be taking on 450 new constables over | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
the next two years, from April onwards. You can register your | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
interest by logging on at the force's website from today. | :20:34. | :20:36. | |
In football, West Bromwich Albion have slipped into the bottom three | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
of the Premier League for the first time this season. After four games | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
in charge, Head Coach Pepe Mel is still without a win. And a clash | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
with league leaders Chelsea tomorrow is just one of a string of tough | :20:49. | :20:51. | |
fixtures ahead, as Ian Winter reports. | :20:52. | :21:00. | |
The rain in Spain is nothing compared to England so he is going | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
home, not because he is sick of full weather or because Albion have | :21:06. | :21:08. | |
slumped into the bottom three, oh, no, he is flying his team of four | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
weeks training in warm sunshine. First, they face the daunting task | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
of Chelsea. It is difficult because Jose Mourinho, Madrid, inter`Milan, | :21:19. | :21:27. | |
it is difficult. Albion's problems began long before he arrived in the | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
Premier League. On Saturday, they were 2`0 down inside the first half | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
hour at Crystal Palace, and the alarm bells were ringing. Within 36 | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
seconds of coming on, their French loan signing Thievy scored on his | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
debut to make it 2`1. Then a Palace penalty sealed their fate. Albion | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
have now won just one of the last 15 Premier League games, not exactly | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
inspiring confidence before Chelsea, Fulham, and Manchester United all | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
visit the Hawthorns in the next three weeks. For the next season, it | :21:56. | :22:05. | |
is my work. The players think it is possible to win tomorrow. Against | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
the meanest defence in the Premier League? We will see. Villa's woeful | :22:10. | :22:12. | |
home form shows little sign of improvement. A couple of goals | :22:13. | :22:15. | |
inside three minutes just after half time allowed Kevin Nolan to claim a | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
2`0 victory for West Ham. Marc Albrighton was unlucky not to score. | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
But this result leaves Villa on 27 points, just six more than tomorrow | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
night's opponents, Cardiff City. And Stoke City are also one of 11 teams | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
fighting for survival. Twice they levelled the score to earn a 2`2 | :22:33. | :22:35. | |
draw away to Southampton. And they'll now be hoping to go one | :22:36. | :22:38. | |
better at home to Swansea on Wednesday. | :22:39. | :22:49. | |
Good luck to Albion tomorrow night. Chelsea are on fire. Now, all | :22:50. | :22:57. | |
important weather forecast. Thank you very much, Nick. Wherever | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
you look, brain is not far away. What makes matters worse is the way | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
it feels. Unlike previous weeks, were temperatures have been above | :23:07. | :23:09. | |
average for a time of year, this week it is going to be much colder. | :23:10. | :23:15. | |
We are under this expanse of blue, a cold air mass originating from the | :23:16. | :23:18. | |
North. Temperatures will start to plummet. There are warnings a plenty | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
but the one I wanted to highlight as this amber warning, for wind. That | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
is for Wednesday and applies to Worcestershire, Herefordshire and | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
Shropshire with gusts of around 60 bells per hour. Because it is amber, | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
it is more serious and means it is a greater likelihood of cladding. For | :23:36. | :23:42. | |
other aspects of the weather, we have yellow warnings. It is going to | :23:43. | :23:45. | |
be unsettled throughout the week, more rain on the way. It will also | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
turn colder. Rain and cold means we can see problems of ice and snow. | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
Some of those yellow warnings apply to the rain arriving later on | :23:54. | :23:56. | |
tonight. To begin with, a few showers. Montreal with a howl tops | :23:57. | :24:07. | |
to the north. These will clear and then `` wintry on the hilltops to | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
the North. There could be ice. Later in the night, we see this rain, the | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
next band of rain, coming in from the West. This will turn heavier | :24:16. | :24:23. | |
from the early hours of tomorrow. There could be 20 millimetres of | :24:24. | :24:26. | |
rain in places. Moving rapidly, spurred on by the winds, it could | :24:27. | :24:33. | |
cost up to 50 mph. It will be followed by drier conditions and | :24:34. | :24:36. | |
just a sprinkling of showers across the north of the region. Again, they | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
will turn wintry over the hilltops but otherwise, plenty of sunshine | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
elsewhere. Now, we are looking at more snow tomorrow night, into the | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
early hours of Wednesday morning. We have got quite a few areas of white | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
showing up later in the night. This could lead to between 2`5 | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
centimetres of snow. Thank you very much. | :24:58. | :25:00. | |
Our main headline tonight is, of course, about the floods both here | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
and in other parts of the country. In fact, flooding dominates the | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
news. The Thames has burst its banks, flooding hundreds of homes. | :25:09. | :25:11. | |
Here the River Severn is causing most concern, with the waters | :25:12. | :25:14. | |
expected to peak above the levels of the devastating floods of 2007. | :25:15. | :25:21. | |
Joining me live now is floods expert Mary Dhonau. Mary Dhonau, you know | :25:22. | :25:23. | |
all about flooding, you've experienced it yourself. I call you | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
an expert because you have been through it. How do you think it has | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
been handled? Tremendously well. If we cast our mind back to 2000 and | :25:33. | :25:38. | |
seven, so many communities along the river, including me, all flooded. | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
Because of the hard work the Environment Agency has done, many | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
communities along the Severn just have not flooded this time. I always | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
have to put a caveat because a flood defence always reduces your risk. It | :25:53. | :25:55. | |
does not take it away. My word to everybody is to Steve vigilant and | :25:56. | :26:02. | |
be prepared. How do you think people are coping generally? Generally | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
speaking, very well. Good old British stoicism. There is nothing | :26:07. | :26:09. | |
worse than being flooded and I have to say, a huge tribute is due to the | :26:10. | :26:17. | |
vibrant agency for the sterling work they have done. They have come in | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
for criticism. I would like to make Eric Pickles into a sandbag equals | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
he has said things that have been so out of order and morality has to be | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
kept up because they're working so hard. Tell me this, as somebody who | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
has been through the experience of having your own flooded, I should | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
imagine it is devastating question marks it is appalling. There are no | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
words to describe it. When I went downstairs in the morning and for | :26:44. | :26:46. | |
the flood water waist deep in my house and when the flood water is | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
gone there is filth left behind, sewage, stench, you lose everything. | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
I lost drawings, photographs, my home was lobbed into a skip. Then | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
you have to become a building for man. You just literally, your life | :27:02. | :27:07. | |
is torn apart. Thank you very much. Let's hope not too many people go | :27:08. | :27:09. | |
through that this time. That was the Midlands Today. I'll be | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
back at 10pm with the very latest on the flooding situation. And we'll be | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
broadcasting live on this story of course for just as long as the | :27:18. | :27:20. | |
waters continue to threaten homes and livelihoods. For tonight, stay | :27:21. | :27:22. | |
dry and stay safe. Goodbye. | :27:23. | :27:28. |