New flood alert system tested in England

ITV.com (UK): The Met Office has given ITV News an exclusive look at a new alert system developed to predict when and where a flash flood will hit. Following a joint operation with the Environment Agency, it will be much easier now to pinpoint how much rain will fall and where there will be flooding. The alert system will send out warnings to emergency services and the public through 400 centres across Britain.

More than 400 people were evacuated in Morpheth in Northumberland two weeks ago in the worst flooding since the 1960s when 80mm of rain fell in just a few hours. But the emergency services had a head start because they received a warning from the system being tested at the Met Office's headquarters in Exeter. The alert warned of a 20 per cent chance of heavy rainfall around Morpeth and a 10 per cent chance in a slightly wider area….