Weathermen warn of calm before storm

THE torrential rains that lashed England over the weekend may have eased off but forecasters last night warned of more floods to come.

Today’s clear skies are likely to be the calm before another storm.

At least five people have died in weather-related incidents since Friday, with floods hitting the north-east and parts of Yorkshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

In Morpeth, Northumberland, the clean-up operation began after Saturday’s floods put the high street under 2ft of water, with more than 400 people needing to be evacuated.

Many residents were plucked to safety using an RAF helicopter.

Weather group MeteoGroup said that while rains eased off around the country yesterday, more storms were expected by tomorrow.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency, which has seven severe flood warnings in place for the north-east, said: “With river levels being high already, we can expect more floods to hit.”

Judy Evans, operations director for the British Red Cross (BRC), said emergency services in Morpeth had not been able to cope with the number of calls.

The BRC helped set up an evacuation centre and sent volunteers to help.

While there were no serious casualties overnight, three people had to be airlifted to hospital because ambulances could not get to them, she added.