Flood lessons "must be learned," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday after severe weather caused chaos across parts of England and Wales.
Thousands of people have been forced from their homes by flooding caused by torrential rain on Friday and Saturday while others have been left stranded in waterlogged homes or on gridlocked roads.
The transport network across the country has also been hit, with congestion reported at Heathrow airport and on many roads and rail services, on one of the busiest weekends of the year at the start of many school holidays.
The Royal Air Force (RAF) helicopters worked through the night to rescue people in the area. and the RAF said it had carried out one of tis biggest peacetime rescues.
Brown said the emergency services and armed forces are doing all they can to help the victims and are doing a "superb" job.
The flooding had been "an emergency that on one could have predicted," he said, but the way transport and drainage had coped would be assessed.
"One of the issues that will arise is how co-ordinated the services are between the Highways Agency and the Environment Agency, in this particular instance, where people have been inconvenienced using transport, whether it is the roads or the railways," he said.
"Now these are lessons we can learn for the future," he added.
Sixteen severe flood warnings are currently in place across the Britain -- most in the Midlands -- as well as some 70 general flood warnings.
Weather forecasters said more rain is on the way, adding to concerns for many areas.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article