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British royals visit floodstruck countryside

Britain's heir to the throne Prince Charles, center, talks to a resident of Tewkesbury while his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, right, strokes the resident's dog during their walkabout in the town on Friday to talk to residents about the devastating flooding in the area earlier this week. PHOTO: EPA

Britain's royals visited the scene of the country's worst floods in 60 years on Friday as emergency teams battled to cope with the crisis -- one week after it struck.

Prince Charles, heir to the throne, and his sister Princess Anne -- both Gloucestershire residents -- visited victims there and in neighboring Worcestershire, two of the English counties worst hit by the floods.

Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visited Upton-upon-Severn, Cheltenham, and Tewkesbury, some of the towns hardest hit, to meet families, volunteers and emergency workers.

"I've seen some obviously disastrous horrors that have affected so many people," he said afterwards. "What I have found so wonderful is the spirit the people have displayed.

"One of the things I have found about the British is when faced with disaster it brings out the best in us," he said.

Anne met affected residents and business people in the Gloucester suburbs.

Neither Charles's Highgrove estate nor Anne's Gatcombe Park home were hit by the extreme weather.

Hundreds of locals turned out in sunny weather to see Charles and Camilla chat with residents in an Upton street still partly underwater, and stop for a drink at a nearby pub.

The floods, the second set to hit Britain within a month, have claimed at least two lives and the number of properties swamped could reach 15,000.

Four people were killed in the June 24-25 floods which affected north and central England.

The most recent floods, affecting Britain's two longest rivers -- the Severn and the Thames and their tributaries -- have left 130,000 homes without tap water after a treatment plant flooded.

More than 300,000 people have been told they face up to two weeks without drinkable tap water.

Flooded roads and rails have caused travel chaos.

The floodwaters continued subsiding slowly on Friday in better weather, but heavy rain was expected to lash the area again last night and on into today.

The Environment Agency is maintaining a severe flood warning on the Thames in the university city of Oxford -- meaning there is an imminent danger to life and property.

It has also issued 12 standard flood warnings across the region, meaning that flooding is expected to affect homes, businesses and main roads.

"As the rivers in the Thames region are currently full, forecast rainfall could lead to some of the more responsive rivers rising again rapidly," a spokeswoman from the agency said.

"This rain is going to be locally heavy with up to 30mm in places," she said.

Meteorologists said Thursday that the three months from May to July were already easily the wettest in England and Wales since records began in 1766, with 387.6mm of rain.
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