High tides likely to bring more floods, UK's Environment Agency warns

The Guardian (UK): The Environment Agency has warned that Saturday afternoon high tides will bring a further risk of flooding despite an improvement in conditions.

The agency said there were four severe flood warnings in place, three on the river Severn and one on the Lower Stour at Iford in Kent. There were a further 97 flood warnings and 244 flood alerts in place. The agency has removed 175 warnings or alerts in the past 24 hours.

The Met Office has issued yellow warnings of rain in the south of England and snow in the north of England and southern parts of Scotland. Up to 3cm of rain could fall in just six hours, and there are more warnings of flooding and travel disruption.

Residents in Chiswell and Portland in Weymouth, Dorset, were evacuated ahead of high tide on Friday night, while around 100 people living in Aberystwyth, Dyfed, were advised to move to higher ground, with many taking shelter in rest centres.

The ferocious weather has left widespread damage. In Aberystwyth debris was strewn across the promenade, rail lines in north Wales were left buckled by the power of the sea and a road collapsed in Amroth, Pembrokeshire.

Police continued the search for Henry Martin, 18, who has not been seen since he left his home in Membland, Newton Ferrers, near Plymouth, Devon, to take pictures of the weather on Thursday. Air, sea and land searches were undertaken. Martin had recently started a course in film and TV production at Greenwich University in London but was back home visiting his family for Christmas...

High waves in Blackpool, shot by R lee, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license