AA welcomes Govt's £120m flood defence boost

The rain may have eased off across the UK in recent days but river levels were still rising and more rain was forecast for next week, the Met Office has warned.

The weather warning came as AA Insurance welcomed a further £120m of government investment on flood defences but warned the cost of flooding in the UK this year would top £1bn, when the effect on the economy and damage to infrastructure was taken into account.

AA Insurance said the extra investment was welcome news, even if it was too late for most of the 1,600 families that had seen their homes flooded.

“This year, 23,000 homes that would have been flooded, have remained dry: at a stroke, that more than repays the investment in the flood defences and alleviation schemes that protected them,” AA insurance director Simon Douglas said.

He warned that water runoff had caused flash floods in places that had previously had no history of flooding, as severe rainstorms became an established pattern of the UK climate.

But property owners already hit by the floods were warned they may face a new threat as the first snow flurries of winter were forecast to set in this weekend.

The Met Office said temperatures were set to fall to -5C (23F) in some places and while gritters were on standby it was feared standing water left by the earlier rains would continue to run off fields and verges and wash away the salt.

It warned snow could fall across Cumbria and the Pennines on Friday night and continue throughout the weekend and issued a “yellow warning” for ice and freezing conditions.

The warning stretches from the West Country through to parts of the Midlands and up into Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. It will remain in place overnight into Saturday morning while further wintry showers are expected across the east coast.

It is also feared that up to an inch of rain could fall at the start of the week causing further damage to flood-hit areas, particularly in the South West. Among those rivers still at risk are the Thames, Trent and Severn, which all remain at very high levels.

By Sunday morning there could be further heavy rain in places and as that hits the cold air it will turn into snow. Further rainfall is likely into Monday with a return to wet and windy conditions.

GAB Robins said it was still receiving new claims for flood damage in the South West and more were now being received in Wales. Among those properties damaged in the flooding was a seventeenth century, timber framework building in St Asaph which suffered extensive damage with flooding up to one metre deep. Another property in Somerset flooded for the third time last week when the river Tone broke its banks.

The insurer said the highest levels of flood and storm claims it had received remained in the South West. But fears remained that some of the worst affected areas could be flooded again as restoration work continued.

On Friday afternoon there were a total of 85 flood warnings still in place and a further 85 flood alerts.