Parts of northern England and the Midlands that were devastated by severe floods have been told to brace for further downpours this week.
A band of heavy rain is expected to hamper continuing recovery efforts across four counties on Wednesday, with a Met Office weather warning in place for large parts of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire and Derbyshire.
A yellow warning for possible flooding is in place for those regions, where a month’s worth of rain fell in 24 hours a fortnight ago, claiming one life and causing significant damage to thousands of homes and businesses.
The warning, which is in place from midnight to 6pm on Wednesday, stretches 120 miles, from Leyburn in the Yorkshire Dales to Nottingham in the Midlands, and covers 90 miles from Glossop, in Derbyshire, to Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.
The Met Office has urged residents to expect road and rail disruption, and say there is a “small chance” that some communities could be cut off by flooded roads. The agency said there was a small chance of fast-flowing or deep flood water causing danger to life.
The Met Office weather forecaster Alex Burkill said: “At the moment, the rainfall is not expected to be particularly heavy for the time of year, but we are expecting it to be significant. There are likely to be some impacts.”
More than 1,800 homes and businesses were badly flooded when rivers burst their banks and flood defences failed across northern England and the Midlands. Hundreds of soldiers were deployed to help the flood relief effort amid criticism of the government’s slow response to the disaster.
The leaders of councils in badly affected places such as Doncaster and Rotherham have warned of “considerable and lasting damage on a wide scale”, including to power plants and transport infrastructure, and have called for funding increases to help them cope with future floods.
Boris Johnson last week announced that £5,000 grants would be made available to homes and businesses by the end of November to help protect against future floods.
However, the response was criticised by some as too little too late. “It’s like confetti with the money now. Why were they not doing that before?” said Claire Holling, who owns the Old Butchers cafe in the village of Fishlake, near Doncaster, which was one of the worst-affected areas.
