British Prime Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited the scene of the nation's worst flooding in 60 years yesterday as thousands of people remained cut off, many without access to clean water or electricity.
With swathes of central and western England under water and more rain on its way, Brown flew in a helicopter over the water-logged county of Gloucestershire before meeting officials handling the response on the ground.
Thousands of homes have been hit by the floods, which have prompted the Royal Air Force to carry out what it said was probably its biggest-ever peacetime rescue operation in the UK, picking up more than 100 people.
The worst hit areas are the counties of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire, where nine flood warnings are in place.
There are fears that Britain's two biggest rivers, the Thames and the Severn, could burst their banks, with more chaotic results for homes and businesses.
In Oxford, which is on the Thames, large areas are already under water and scores of schools are closed, a situation likely to worsen if the banks burst.
Compounding the misery, a reported 150,000 homes do not have drinking water after a water treatment plant in historic Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, was closed after becoming deluged.
Noting the irony of the situation, the Daily Mail's headline yesterday read: "Water, water everywhere but ... not a drop to drink!"
The situation led to panic buying of bottled water in the county.
In Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, more than 48,000 homes were without electricity after a power station was shut down because of the flooding.
Amid criticism from opposition parties over the government's handling of the crisis, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn was set to make an emergency statement to lawmakers at the House of Commons yesterday.
The government's emergency planning committee met on Sunday to discuss responses.
The Met Office weather forecasters were predicting more rain in southern England yesterday, although today is set to be drier.
Benn warned on BBC radio that the emergency was "not yet over" and cautioned people to stay away from the water and look out for friends and neighbors.
He insisted that spending on flood defenses had not been cut, adding: "We've been dealing with an unprecedented level of rainfall. This is nature's raw power at work."
Earlier, he told ITV television: "We've seen unprecedented levels of rainfall and flooding that people haven't seen for 60 years."
The Association of British Insurers has predicted that the cost of this bout of flooding, combined with one last month which killed four people, more than ?2 billion (US$4.1 billion).
Meanwhile, the chief executive of the Environment Agency, Lady Young, warned it would cost ?1 billion a year to prevent further flooding, and predicted worsening conditions in future due to climate change.
The opposition Conservative leader, David Cameron, whose constituency in Oxfordshire is one of those badly affected, said serious questions needed to be asked about Britain's flood defense systems.
"People want answers," Cameron said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS