This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/23/travel-chaos-flooding-christmas-getaway

The article has changed 10 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Travel chaos as flooding hampers Christmas getaway Travel chaos as flooding hampers Christmas getaway
(about 2 hours later)
Hundreds of thousands of Christmas commuters will face further misery as their chances of getting home for the festive holiday are hampered by flooding. Hundreds of thousands of Christmas commuters face further misery as their chances of getting home for the festive holiday are hampered by flooding.
Rail routes across Britain will come under increasing pressure as those unable to travel on Saturday add to already crowded services as people attempt to reschedule their journeys.Rail routes across Britain will come under increasing pressure as those unable to travel on Saturday add to already crowded services as people attempt to reschedule their journeys.
Dozens of routes have been affected by heavy rain, with flooding so bad in south-west England that First Great Western is advising passengers planning non-essential journeys not to use trains or replacement buses in the area at all, because of flooding and poor road conditions.Dozens of routes have been affected by heavy rain, with flooding so bad in south-west England that First Great Western is advising passengers planning non-essential journeys not to use trains or replacement buses in the area at all, because of flooding and poor road conditions.
Residents in the south-west face Christmas with floodwater in their homes, with communities across the UK on alert as hundreds of flood warnings remain in place. Dozens of communities have been affected by floods, with Lostwithiel in Cornwall and the area around Barnstaple in North Devon amongst the worst hit, along with parts of south Wales.
In Umberleigh, near Barnstaple in Devon, a woman was swept away from her car in the early hours of Sunday. A police helicopter found the woman clinging to branches of a tree on the banks of the swollen River Taw, police said. Fire crews helped her to safety using a rigid inflatable. She was treated for exposure. People hit by flooding face a bleak Christmas with a week of further rain threatening further holiday misery.
In the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales, a woman was rescued from her car by passers-by after it was swept into a river in Llancarfan, the BBC said. Large parts of the UK, mainly southern England and Wales, will experience unsettled weather throughout the festive period, according to Meteogroup, the weather division of the Press Association.
The woman was driving through the village when her black Mini ended up in the swollen waterway and began floating backwards with her trapped inside. Two men smashed the car window using a ladder and pulled her to safety just moments before her car was washed under the bridge and filled with water. The Environment Agency still had one severe flood warning – meaning there is "danger to life" – in place on Sunday morning, for the River Cober at Helston in west Cornwall, after heavy rainfall overnight.
Sam Smith, one of the woman's rescuers, told the BBC he crawled across the ladder, got the woman out of the car and then with a friend led the woman to safety. He said: "Once we had got her across we pulled the ladder out of the car, and I suppose about a minute later off it went under the bridge. There is no question, the poor lady would have been drowned, absolutely no question." There were 182 flood warnings, urging people to take immediate action, across the UK, with the most in the south -west and the Midlands.
The Environment Agency said on Saturday night there was a heightened flood risk across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Bristol, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West and East Sussex, North Yorkshire, south Wales, Ceredigion and Gwynedd. In Umberleigh, near Barnstaple in Devon, a woman was rescued by a lifeboat after she was swept away from her car in the early hours of Sunday after flooding in the area.
There are more than 360 flood alerts in place across England and Wales, and more than 200 flood warnings – the agency's second highest alert level in which flooding is expected – are in place in the Midlands and the south-west. A Devon and Cornwall police helicopter found the woman clinging to branches of a tree on the banks of the swollen River Taw. She had been in a car with her husband and son when they were trapped by floodwater.
A severe flood warning remains in place at Helston on Cornwall, though levels of the River Cober were falling on Saturday night and levels were rising at Loe Pool in Helston. River levels at Lostwithiel and Par were also continuing to drop, and a rest centre at Lostwithiel was closed at 1am, though water is still swamping streets. Her husband and son were rescued by passers-by while the woman had tried to clamber to safety on to the top of the car but was swept away. She managed to grab hold of a branch and clung on while a police helicopter hovered overhead.
The River Trent at Willington, Castle Donnington, and Barrow upon Trent in Derbyshire also is imminent danger of flooding, the agency said. Robin Goodlad, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's (RNLI) incident commander, said the rescue had been a "heroic" effort.
The town of Braunton in north Devon was effectively cut off on Saturday, with homes and shops under water, after the River Caen burst its banks. Though the river Caen is now falling and rain is clearing, an agency spokesman said the river on Saturday breached a section of Braunton's flood defences. Chris Missen and Paul Eastman from Porthcawl in Wales and Martin Blaker-Rowe, an RNLI College trainer, were on board the lifeboat that saved the woman from the water.
The £1.2m defence scheme was completed in June when the agency said the works meant flooding would be reduced from a one in 20 chance of occurring in any one year to one in 100. "These three volunteers were working in complete darkness, in an environment they had never been in before and ideally this should have been a two-boat operation," Goodlad said.
Liz Spear, the chairman of Braunton parish Ccouncil, said a river had run through the centre of the town. "It's disappointing really because the Environment Agency have just spent over £1m on new flood defence schemes – two flood defence schemes – this year but they've been totally overwhelmed," she said. "They had a pinpoint light of the police helicopter to locate the woman. They got the woman into the boat. She had been in the water for 50 minutes and the guys are gobsmacked that she is alive and if they had not picked her up in that boat she would have been floating away downstream.
Business owners in Caen Street were left surveying the damage on Sunday morning. Emma Beeston, who runs a restaurant in Braunton, said that despite having flood boards and sand bags she had two inches of water throughout her business. "They were fully aware of the risks. This was a high-risk operation with a high benefit and they decided to get on with it. This was a very heroic rescue, there are no two ways about it."
"Ourselves and every other business and lots of homes were under a lot of water for quite a long time," she told the BBC. "The timing couldn't be any worse for any of us here, really. The start of the Christmas holiday is always a busy time. The RNLI said its flood rescue teams rescued four people from flooded homes in Barnstaple and 12 people, two dogs and six cats in Lostwithiel. They also helped treat a woman involved in a car accident near Yeovil in Somerset.
"There are shops in this village that are not going to get opened for the entire Christmas period. Their stock has all been lost. Towards the middle of Caen Street there was 3ft of water, much of that went into the shops and you can't turn that round overnight. Mid- and west Wales fire and rescue said it was called to more than 80 flooding incidents on Saturday, including six to rescue people from cars and three at landslides.
"Luckily for us we managed to, once the water had receded, get the water out and give it a first mop clean. Unfortunately at 7pm last night the same thing happened again, it re-flooded." They reportedly included a woman swept away in her car in Llancarfan, in the Vale of Glamorgan. The woman was driving through the village when her black Mini ended up in the swollen waterway and began floating backwards with her trapped inside, according to the BBC.
She promised to fulfil her commitments on Tuesday, saying: "We will be open on Christmas Day for all our customers who are coming." Two men smashed the car window using a ladder and pulled her to safety just moments before her car was washed under the bridge and filled with water.
Fire crews from the Devon and Somerset fire and rescue service said they had a busy night attending several incidents of people caught out by the floodwater. Dozens of rail routes have been affected by heavy rain in recent days, and flooding was so bad in the south-west that First Great Western advised passengers not to travel west of Taunton unless their journeys were essential.
At 12.37am firefighters from South Molton and Torrington in North Devon and a rescue team was called to help a man, woman and child after their car became stuck in fast flowing floodwater. Several train operators struggled to provide replacement buses due to flooded roads and a lack of available vehicles.
Police and paramedics also attended the incident near Umberleigh railway station along with an RNLI boat team and a search and rescue helicopter. Network Rail (NR) said engineers worked overnight to monitor flooding and to try to keep the railway open. It added that much of the network was still running, albeit in some cases with amended timetables. Passengers were urged to check with their operators before they travel.
The fire service said: "The occupants in the car were difficult to reach although one male person and one child were rescued by fire service personnel using dry suits. The adult female was out of reach and was eventually rescued by the RNLI boat team." Patrick McLoughlin, the transport secretary, said: "Exceptional weather conditions are having a serious impact on the transport network at what is already a difficult time of year.
Two hours later a crew from Okehampton was called to Sanders Lane, in Bishops Tawton near Barnstaple, where two elderly women were trapped in their home. "The Highways Agency and Network Rail have emergency staff working round-the-clock to keep motorways and rail tracks open where it is safe to do so while train operators are working hard to keep services running.
The property was 50 metres from the road and surrounded by three foot of floodwater. The fire crew and a RNLI in-shore boat rescued the two women, who were taken to safety before two further people and two dogs were also rescued from a nearby cottage. "We urge people travelling through the most affected areas to plan ahead and check the latest travel information. We will continue to ensure everything possible is being done to help people get to where they need to be for Christmas."
Trains between Exeter St Davids and Tiverton Parkway are suspended on the Plymouth to Taunton line, with a limited bus service between Exeter and Taunton. Trains between Exeter St Davids and Tiverton Parkway were suspended, with a limited bus service between Exeter and Taunton.
Services between Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple are also suspended, and there are no trains on Sunday between Liskeard and Looe in Cornwall. Cornish seaside resort Newquay was completely cut off from the network, and services were not expected to resume between Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple until next weekend.
Passengers on First Great Western trains with tickets from Saturday will be able to use them on Sunday or Monday.Passengers on First Great Western trains with tickets from Saturday will be able to use them on Sunday or Monday.
A fire on Friday that caused signalling problems at Preston Park near Brighton continued to affect services on Sunday, including the Brighton to London route via Gatwick airport, and trains between Liverpool and Manchester were disrupted because of a landslip. East Midlands Trains has suspended services between Derby and Nottingham, and there were delays of almost an hour between Derby and Loughborough. Trains between Cardiff and Bridgend were suspended, and those between Bristol Parkway and Cardiff were delayed by up to an hour.
East Midlands Trains has suspended services between Derby and Nottingham and there were delays of almost an hour between Derby and Loughborough because of flooding, while trains between Cardiff and Bridgend were suspended and those between Bristol Parkway and Cardiff delayed up to an hour. Landslips caused disruption to rail services between Liverpool and Manchester and the route from Aberdeen to Montrose, while a fire on Friday that caused signalling problems at Preston Park near Brighton continued to affect services on Sunday, including the Brighton to London route via Gatwick airport.
The road network is also widely affected. The A27 near Chichester was flooded, as was the M4 motorway on the westbound slip road to Reading services. NR said it was working closely with the Environment Agency and its weather service to try to keep trains operating where possible.
Robin Gisby, NR's director of network operations, said: "We apologise to passengers who have had their journeys disrupted at this busy time and we are doing all we can to keep things moving. However, safety is our priority and where flooding has submerged tracks or damaged structures we cannot allow trains to run.
"Our engineers have been out at vulnerable locations since the rains began and through the night to monitor the situation and we are doing all we can to help operators get passengers to where they want to get to."