Britain Sounds Red Warning After Storm Dennis Hits

Parts of Wales receive a month's worth of rainfall in 48 hours
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 16, 2020 11:50 AM CST
Britain Sounds Red Warning After Storm Dennis Hits
Powerful waves break on the shoreline around the small port of Porthleven, southwest England, Sunday.   (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Storm Dennis hammered Britain on Sunday, bringing a month's worth of rain in just 48 hours to parts of South Wales, which bore the brunt of the country's second severe storm inside a week. Rivers across Britain burst their banks, and a number of severe flood warnings remained in place as authorities strove to get people to safety and to protect homes and businesses. The Met Office, Britain's meteorological service. said the disruption is set to carry through into Monday, the AP reports. Major incidents have been declared in a number of areas in England and Wales as authorities mobilized resources to deal with the impact of the overflowing rivers that have cut off some communities. On Saturday, Storm Dennis was blamed for the deaths of two men who were pulled from the sea in separate searches off England's southeastern coast.

Dennis has been so intense that England posted a record number of flood warnings and alerts, and a rare "red warning" for extremely life-threatening flooding was announced for South Wales. It was the first time a red warning has been sounded since December 2015. The Met Office said the highest wind gust recorded was 91 mph at Aberdaron in north Wales on Saturday. It also said a total of 6.1 inches of rain fell at Crai Reservoir in the Welsh county of Powys over 48 hours to Sunday morning. Flood warnings could remain in place for a while since much of Britain is still saturated from last week's Storm Ciara, which left eight people dead across Europe. Travel was affected this weekend, with hundreds of flights canceled due to the high winds while train services were repeatedly disrupted by flooding. Tens of thousands of passengers were affected on what is a major travel weekend for British families as many schools close for a mid-winter break.

(More storm stories.)

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