16/02/2014 Spotlight

two weeks' time. That is all from us

Good evening. The high capacity Dutch pumps on the flooded Somerset

Levels have had to be turned off because of damage to the riverbank.

The pumps had already moved a million tonnes of water. Engineers

are now looking at ways of stabilising the bank. Meanwhile for

some families it's been a heartbreaking day, watching their

homes succumb to the water. Fiona Lamdin reports. Homeless and now

churchless. With more land well under water, today they came to

worship on higher ground. Our church has gone at the moment, we can't use

it. Praying for those like Lesley where the water's won this war. We

were fighting hard to try and keep it out. With all our family and

friends really working well. We even had six policemen come on Sunday and

worked all day putting sandbags up. And you've got so many sandbags, but

it still came in? About 2,000. And when did it finally come in? On the

Wednesday. We got up in the morning it was all just here. It's just

devastating, you just don't see how it's ever going to go. In fact it

just keeps on rising. The grand plan to get the water off the Levels lies

here at Dunball, but these Dutch pumps are idle, they have been have

been turned off just too strong for the river bank, which is starting to

give way. We are just making a small collection for the people that are

flooded. Back in East Lyng there is no shortage of a new type of

visitor, the flood tourist. So why not charge them? Hundreds made every

hour. Claire and Mark built this boat in four hours this morning. My

friend's birthday and they live over that side of the flood. So we

thought we'd build a boat and meet them there for lunch. As we start

week seven, locals are clearly adapting. Elsewhere and train

services have resumed this afternoon on the main line in Cornwall. The

line between Plymouth and West Cornwall was closed on Friday due to

storm damage. On the main line at Dawlish meanwhile, engineers are

still assessing the damage caused by Friday night's storm. Network Rail

remains hopeful it won't significantly delay repairs.

Wildlife rescuers say hundreds of dead and oiled birds are washing up

along the south west coast following the recent storms. It's reported

that more than 20 dead puffins, guillemots and razor bills were

found on the beach at Thurlstone in Devon yesterday. Many other oiled

and storm blown birds are being cared for here at the South Devon

Seabird Trust in Teignmouth. There will be several hundred birds that

have been affected by this. We have had nearly 50 now and other people

that we know have picked up a similar number. But it's the dead

ones, they're washing up dead in their hundreds all along the coast.

Volunteers across Cornwall have taken advantage of today's calmer

weather to clear litter from some of its most popular beaches. With

thousands of visitors expected for the half term break, Cornwall

Council is keen to ensure the county is looking its best despite the

storm damage. Tourism leaders say this week is worth more than ?50

million to the economies of Devon and Cornwall. Following the storms

that we have had, the beaches were in a bit of a state and we thought

back to the aftermath of the riots in Tottenham and people taking to

the streets with their brushes and brooms to clear up. So this is the

Cornish version of that. This is us taking to the beaches with our bin

bags and gloves to pick up all the litter that the sea's washed up. I

actually run a business where we teach children about this

environment and local schools come down. So it's important for me to

make sure everyone knows Cornwall is open, we are OK, come down enjoy

this beautiful environment with us. Onto the weather now and here's

Holly. Hello there, we saw some beautiful blue skies today, but

tonight things are going down hill. We have got rain pushing in and we

have a Met Office yellow warning for that rain. We could see 20

millimetres or so falling tonight and tomorrow, elevating the flooding

risk once again. So a few showers around initially, they replaced by

outbreaks of rain during the night. The winds will pick up at times as

well. Lows in the region of five to seven degrees. So we start tomorrow

with outbreaks of rain from the word go. And they will continue on and

off through the bulk of day. We could see coastal gales as well, but

those winds not comparable with the winds we have been seeing over

recent days. Thereafter, Tuesday and Wednesday bring bright spells and

showers, but Wednesday night and Thursday turn wet and windy. That is

all for this weekend. Good night. Good evening. In the midst of any

normal winter weather for the week ahead would be fairly unremarkable.

Some rain in places, some strong winds at times, but of course we are

in the midst of no normal winter. It is worth emphasising that with -

the weather this week will be less angry and volatile overall, a fair

bit calmer. Calmer but by no means dry. Outbreaks of rain will spread

across much of the UK through the night. There will be