Some people took to canoes and surfboards to ride the Severn Bore, despite official warnings to stay away
Forecasters are warning of further gales and heavy rain to come, as a search is under way for an angler who went missing in bad weather.
Elsewhere, six fishermen were rescued by helicopter after their boat was damaged by a huge wave.
Two severe flood warnings, meaning danger to life, are in place on the Severn estuary, near Gloucester.
The environment secretary said "everything possible" was being done to help those affected by flooding.
Rescue teams are searching for the sea angler who was night fishing off the Aberdeenshire coast when he went missing in the early hours of the morning.
The man was at Tangle-Ha, north of St Cyrus, when he disappeared from rocks in rough conditions.
'Shaken'
In Cornwall, a crew of French and Portuguese fishermen had to be winched from the sea by an RNAS Culdrose helicopter on Saturday. Their boat had foundered in dire weather conditions off the north Cornish coast.
The wrecked fishing boat was washed ashore and onto rocks near Porthcothon
Rescuers from the Royal Navy and RNLI had to contend with 60mph winds and 30ft (9m) waves
All six are recovering at the Fisherman's Mission in Newlyn and were described by a coastguard spokesman as being "shaken but mostly unharmed" after their ordeal.
BBC Weather's Peter Gibbs said there was no sign of any respite in the weather in the coming week, with more disruption possible in many areas.
He said Wales and parts of south-west England would be affected on Monday with up to 20mm of rain in places, but worse was to come in the middle of the week.
A crowd gathered as the River Parrett on the Somerset Levels burst its banks
"There will be a fairly major storm coming in from the Atlantic on Tuesday night going into Wednesday," he said.
"There will be widespread gales and heavy rain and there is the potential for disruption from that system.
"It is a fairly extensive system and most parts of the UK will be affected."
On Saturday, 150 homes in the South West, South East and Midlands flooded.
And overnight, waves were driven onto the seafront at Aberystwyth on the Ceredigion coast for the second time this year.
Aberystwyth suffered flooding and damage to the promenade a month ago and repairs have just been finished.
But 600 university students living on the seafront were either rehoused or accepted the offer to travel home or to another part of the UK for the weekend.
In Newgale, Pembrokeshire, 10 people were rescued after the bus they were travelling in was hit by a large wave on the seafront and surrounded by water. No injuries were reported.
Following a meeting of the government's emergency committee, Cobra, on Saturday afternoon, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said: "Everything possible is being done over the weekend to help those affected by flooding and to prepare for the further bad weather and high tides forecast overnight and into next week."
Ten people were rescued after the bus they were travelling in was hit by a large wave in Pembrokeshire
Further north on the Welsh coast, waves crashed over the sea defences in Aberystwyth
Surfers in Newnham took advantage of the rare five-star Severn Bore on Sunday morning
Spectators have been criticised for standing too close to the wave
The Environment Agency has issued more than 110 flood warnings and nearly 300 flood alerts, with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency saying there are 13 flood alerts in Scotland.
The Environment Agency said the flood risk would continue all week.
Kate Marks, the Environment Agency's flood risk manager, said: "Further wind and waves along the coast as well as another band of heavy rain this week could lead to further flooding throughout this week, especially in the south of England.
"We would urge people to again stay away from coastlines and tidal areas and not drive through flood water.
"With further severe weather conditions expected in the coming days, the Environment Agency is likely to issue further warnings so people should check their flood risk and get early warnings so they can take action to protect their property."
Around the UK:
- High winds and heavy rain have caused disruption in parts of Northern Ireland, with a number of roads closed because of flooding
- People erected their own makeshift barriers in the Gloucestershire village of Minsterworth where the five-star bore flooded some river-side properties
- Severn Bore spectators have been criticised by the Environment Agency for standing too close to the wave
- On the Isle of Wight, service is suspended on the Island Line between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin because of a landslide
- Roads closed by flooding in the Western Isles have reopened
- A landslide at Botley in Hampshire affected train services between Fareham and Eastleigh, with the line likely to remain closed until Wednesday, South West Trains said
- North Somerset Council said teams had been dispatched along the coast to try to ensure public safety
- A spokeswoman for Public Health England's Devon, Cornwall and Somerset centre said it was "unsurprising" that samples of flood water had shown the presence of unsafe bacteria, and she recommended those who came into contact with it to wash their hands thoroughly
While the government and the Environment Agency have been criticised by MPs and local councils in Somerset, the agency said it was now running pumps 24 hours a day to drain the huge amounts of water that have made it a miserable start to the year for people living on the Somerset Levels.
Members of all three branches of the armed forces are on stand-by to help villages in Somerset cut off by the floods.
The latest warnings come after the wettest January on record for parts of southern England.
Up to and including 28 January, the South East and central southern England had a record 175.2mm (6.9in) of rainfall in January - beating the previous record of 158.2mm for the same parts of England set in 1988.
No comments:
Post a Comment