Sheep feared drowned in floods
Dozens of sheep are feared to have been drowned after more bad weather hit Britain.
The unsettled weather and flooding is expected to continue for much of the weekend.
The West Country, Wales and south-west Scotland were among the worst-hit areas as another storm and high tides battered western Britain.
The sheep are believed to have been lost when the River Nith and its tributaries burst their banks in several places in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Local NFU Scotland chairman Hugh Hamilton, who farms near Thornhill, north of Dumfries, said he believed two farms in the area had lost sheep – despite doing their best to save them.
“It is horrendous,” Mr Hamilton told Farmers Weekly. “It’s wind and rain again – we seem to have one good day and then get hammered for it the next.”
Although many farmers had managed to move livestock to higher ground, some land in the lower valleys was under 3-4ft of water, said Mr Hamilton.
“Sheep have been lost on one or two farms and fencing has been damaged too – we’re waiting to see how bad it is but it’s hard to tell because so much land is under water.”
Some 553 flood warnings and alerts were in force across all regions of England, Scotland and Wales at 4pm on Friday (3 January).
They included 10 severe flood warnings – indicating a danger to life – three of which were issued for the River Severn, Tidal Severn and Severn Estuary.
Winds and showers are expected to ease overnight, with some clearer spells possible.
But the Met Office expects it to become cloudy again later with heavy and persistent outbreaks of rain arriving once again in some areas by dawn on Saturday (4 January).
Sunday morning is expected to be mainly dry but becoming wet and very windy again later.
Monday and Tuesday (6 and 7 January) are forecast to be windy with some bright spells and squally showers, which will be heavy at times.
In Herefordshire, Ally Hunter Blair said about 60ha were under water at Weir End Farm, near Ross-On-Wye.
“It’s peaking this afternoon – it’s not going to be a record but it is pretty wet. All our sheep are safe, so we’ve only the crops to worry about.
In Devon and Cornwall, strong winds, a storm surge and high tides combined to cause flooding to communities in Dartmouth, Lynmouth, Looe, Polperro and Mevagissey.
“It’s really wet,” said dairy producer David Horton from Dunsburgh Farm, near Plymouth. “We haven’t been flooded like some people but the place was awash on Thursday.”
“You couldn’t move for water.”
John Curtin, head of incident management at the Environment Agency said the risk of flooding could continue throughout the weekend.
“With several severe flood warnings still in place we would urge people to be prepared by checking their flood risk, signing up to free flood warnings and keeping an eye on the latest flood updates.”
The Environment Agency had protected some 130,000 properties across the country over the past 24 hours and would continue to work around the clock to check flood defences.