February 17, 2020

Andrew Campbell 

In the afternoon of February 14, the storm Dennis had already upgraded officially to a bomb cyclone. Meanwhile, many flights to and from Heathrow and Gatwick airports were canceled due to strong winds and heavy rainfalls and the Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing, a major cable-stayed bridge across the River Thames in England, was blocked out as well.

George Eustice was most recently appointed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on February 13. The new Environment Secretary warned towns near the River Severn, including Bewdley, Shrewsbury, and Tewkesbury, were the government’s greatest concern. As water levels were rising in the River Severn, the River Ouse in York had reached 4.41 meters above its normal level on February 17.

Hundreds of flood warnings and alerts were issued across the UK on February 15. The government also activated an emergency funding scheme for boroughs affected by the flooding, including Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Telford Worcestershire, and Wrekin. Besides, it had reportedly deployed 5 kilometers of flood barriers, 1,000 Environment Agency staff, and army to the affected areas.

The coast of southern England has just begun to recover from flooding caused by Storm Ciara about one week ago. According to the weather report, Storm Ciara poured in 184mm of rainfalls and 56 kilometers per hour (97 mph) gust winds which resulted in hundreds of homes flooded and more than 500,000 people with electricity failure.

Photo:Webshot.