More flooding as parts of England battle power cuts, water shortages |
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Published
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Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:21
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OXFORD (Thomson Financial) - Further water surges were expected in southern England as Britain's worst floods in 60 years saw forced evacuations, the threat of power cuts and a lack of fresh water for thousands.Tributaries feeding the River Thames engulfed several areas in the university city of Oxford overnight. Some 250 homes were evacuated and residents given emergency shelter at a nearby football stadium.But despite fears that an electricity substation supplying the historic city centre would be submerged, police said widespread blackouts were not now expected, although there had been localised power cuts.Downstream, the London commuter town of Reading, the royal castle city of Windsor and Henley, famous for its annual rowing regatta, were among other places threatened as river levels were expected to peak in the next 48 hours.The Environment Agency said six severe flood warnings and 33 other flood warnings were in place this morning, as weather forecasters predicted more rain, particularly on Thursday, which could further affect river levels.Elsewhere, the emergency services managed to restore power to more than 48,000 homes in the neighbouring county of Gloucestershire, where the town of Tewkesbury was entirely cut off by the rising waters of the River Severn.But although levels on the Severn were said to have peaked, and even dropped in some places, allowing a clean-up to begin, utility Severn Trent said mains water supplies in the county could be off for at least two weeks.That has triggered emergency measures for the more than 340,000 people affected.The company has set up 500 bowsers -- mobile water tankers -- in Tewkesbury and the nearby cities of Cheltenham and Gloucester, while the army has been drafted in to provide three million litres of bottled drinking water per day.Amid reports of panic buying of bottled water, local authorities and emergency services called for calm and said there was enough to go around.The floods in central and western England come less than a month after large swathes of northern England were hit by massive downpours that caused flash floods and cut off villages and towns and affected transport networks.On Tuesday, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn warned the emergency was not over and promised an extra 10 mln stg on top of the current 14 mln stg available to local councils.The human cost of the flooding has not just been measured in damage to property and possessions, which analysts estimated Tuesday could cost the insurance industry 3 bln stg.tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.comgpCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.
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E.On's Central Networks restores power in flood-hit western England 