Heavy Rain, Flooding, High Winds - 19th December -->

[Bobby]

This shows I've had around 20mm in the past 24 hours, agrees with the raingague, and its still lashing down.

[pyrotech]

Lot more expexted in worst effected areas .About how meto award alerta and warnings to keep us

safe. Firstly likely hood of weather in area. Population effectwd and likely disruption. Thirdly severity likelyhood and liferisk to area. Rhey will look at rainfall amounts but also current water table.YAq Have a flood bag prepared. Move stuff upstairs and may be to friends or family home. Monitor forecasts and flood warnings. Listen to local news and heed vice from emergency agwncies. Take care do not drivethru floot qater. A foot can drag a car away. Walking in it dangerous too. Contaminents and bacteria. Trip hazards kerbs debri. Open drains can suck u in. Driving in floodwater can get you stuck and car deatroyed. Insuranse companies did say not paying out if you purposely drove in it. Plus laatly if yo did get thru chance u damqge catlyatic converter

. That willl cost a bit further down the line.

Hope you all avoid the mes and inconvenie but if not get aelf sorted as easier than after.

If you put a flood bag togethwr include food. Hot flask. Importand tocuments including certificatwa inaurance forma. Valuable photos that can not be replaced and warm clothing. Lets hope you do not need it but if you do then you saved aome stuff. Laatly can u make you home flood resiliant. If u can do it as early as you can

Edited December 20, 2012 by pyrotech

[matty40s]

Lot more expexted in worst effected areas .About how meto award alerta and warnings to keep us

safe. Firstly likely hood of weather in area. Population effectwd and likely disruption. Thirdly severity likelyhood and liferisk to area. Rhey will look at rainfall amounts but also current water table.YAq Have a flood bag prepared. Move stuff upstairs and may be to friends or family home. Monitor forecasts and flood warnings. Listen to local news and heed vice from emergency agwncies. Take care do not drivethru floot qater. A foot can drag a car away. Walking in it dangerous too. Contaminents and bacteria. Trip hazards kerbs debri. Open drains can suck u in. Driving in floodwater can get you stuck and car deatroyed. Insuranse companies did say not paying out if you purposely drove in it. Plus laatly if yo did get thru chance u damqge catlyatic converter

. That willl cost a bit further down the line.

Hope you all avoid the mes and inconvenie but if not get aelf sorted as easier than after.

If you put a flood bag togethwr include food. Hot flask. Importand tocuments including certificatwa inaurance forma. Valuable photos that can not be replaced and warm clothing. Lets hope you do not need it but if you do then you saved aome stuff. Laatly can u make you home flood resiliant. If u can do it as early as you can

pyrotech has fat fingers or is using a keyboard set to nepalese.

A lot of rain since 4pm here, I had a mad dash in the dark from Sileby down the river soar to barrow where the towpath is less likely to disappear. The river was flowing well and I was probably touching 8-9mph in some stretches.

The EA meters are showing some alarming jumps already and we are less than half way through this first system.

This will be worse than the November floods.

[Coast]

30.6mm in the last 24 hours in Eastbourne and my local shopping centre roof has collapsed overnight due to the weight/volume of rain.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Coast

[NL]

30.6mm in the last 24 hours in Eastbourne and my local shopping centre roof has collapsed overnight due to the weight/volume of rain.

Luckily it didn't happen during the day could have been a disaster. Shame it wasn't the weight of snow that brought it down..

Very, very windy here on the NE coast but not much in the way of rain though only 2 and half mm in the last 24hrs..!!

[Coast]

SKYWARN UK SEVERE WEATHER WARNING #068

ISSUED: 1800UTC WEDNESDAY 19TH DECEMBER 2012 (GJ/SM)

SKYWARN UK HAS ISSUED A SEVERE WEATHER WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING REGIONS:

CENTRAL SCOTLAND SOUTHERN SCOTLAND NORTHERN ENGLAND WALES MIDLANDS SOUTHWEST ENGLAND SOUTHERN ENGLAND

IN EFFECT UNTIL 1200UTC FRIDAY 21ST DECEMBER 2012

DEVELOPING WAVE WITHIN A SATURATED FRONTAL ZONE, WITH MODERATELY STRONG WINDS ENHANCING PRECIPITATION

SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED IMMINENTLY, OR OCCURRING, SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE REGIONS INDICATED. THREATS WITHIN THIS WARNING INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

HEAVY RAIN...PERSISTENT RAIN...RIVER FLOODING...FLASH FLOODING...STRONG GUSTS

DISCUSSION:

THERE IS EXCELLENT MODEL AND PARTNER AGENCY AGREEMENT ON THE OCCURRENCE OF A SEVERE WEATHER RISK OVERNIGHT AND THROUGH THURSDAY. CURRENT AND RECENT OBSERVATIONS SUPPORT THE MODELLED GENERATION OF A WAVE APPROACHING FROM THE SOUTHWEST ALONG A BROAD FRONTAL ZONE, WITH HIGH WATER VAPOUR CONTENT AND STRONG DYNAMIC FORCING. AS THE WAVE ALMOST DEVELOPS TO A CIRCULATION ENTERING THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER, HEAVY RAIN WILL ADD 30MM GENERALLY TO TODAY'S RAINFALL WITH PERHAPS IN EXCESS OF 40MM OVER HIGH GROUND IN STRONG FRONTAL WINDS. GIVEN RECENT RAINFALL AND HIGH RIVER LEVELS THERE WILL BE FLOODING INCIDENTS OCCURRING PARTICULARLY ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST, SOUTH WALES AND SEVERN RIVER CATCHMENTS, WITH RAPID SURFACE RUN-OFF GENERATING FLASH FLOODING.

DURING THURSDAY, THE AREA OF HEAVIEST RAIN AND STRONG WINDS WILL AFFECT NORTHERN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, WHEREUPON THE TIGHTENED FRONTAL ZONE WILL STALL ACROSS THE EASTERN HALF. THERE IS A STRONG POSSIBILITY OF IN EXCESS OF 60MM OCCURRING WITHIN 24HRS, WITH 80MM TOTALS FOR THE PERIOD ALSO POSSIBLE. MOST LIKELY THIS WILL BE OVER SOUTH AND SOUTHEASTERN FACING SLOPES OF HIGHER GROUND, THOUGH THE POTENTIAL FOR RIVER FLOODING AND FLASH FLOODING EXISTS ANYWHERE WITHIN THE WARNINGS AREAS. THIS WARNING MAY BE UPDATED. PLEASE MONITOR WEATHER AND TRAVEL INFO AS NECESSARY. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS FLOODWATERS.

http://www.skywarn.org.uk/

[Dorsetbred]

26.3mm overnight here in Poole, and it's all run-off now as the ground doesnt seem to be able to absorb anymore

[Paul]

Latest 24 hour rain totals + the current radar image tell the story...

Totals

Current radar

Live radar - http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=radar;sess=

Flooding

England and Wales - Currently 166 alerts, 16 warnings

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/31618.aspx

Scotland

http://floodline.sepa.org.uk/floodupdates/

[TonyH]

Persistent rather than heavy here. 14mm since midnight.

[TonyH]

Coventry just had their wettest December day in 10 years:

http://bws.users.netlink.co.uk/

[Bobby]

Hammering down here, 20mm so far, fields, paths flooded. The valleys stealing all the rain again it seems, past 6 hours:

Saturday looks bad too

Edited December 20, 2012 by Bobby

[Coast]

Up to 35,6mm rain in Eastbourne now

or Venice, as we are renaming it....

[TonyH]

Hammering down here, 20mm so far, fields, paths flooded. The valleys stealing all the rain again it seems, past 6 hours:

Saturday looks bad too

Your in the sweet spot there Bobby, a relatively modest 16mm here so far since midnight.

[pyrotech]

pyrotech has fat fingers or is using a keyboard set to nepalese.

A lot of rain since 4pm here, I had a mad dash in the dark from Sileby down the river soar to barrow where the towpath is less likely to disappear. The river was flowing well and I was probably touching 8-9mph in some stretches.

The EA meters are showing some alarming jumps already and we are less than half way through this first system.

This will be worse than the November floods.

Yes im on phone posting as out and about. Can not see what i wrote till after. Who called it a smart phone. It can not even spell. So my thick fingers on my THICK phone . Take care in flood area.

[Bobby]

Flood reports coming in now, EA has a severe flood warning out

The Environment Agency has decided to issue this Severe Flood Warning. Wallington Village next to River Wallington will be evacuated imminently by Havant Borough Council and the emergency services. This is due to a failure in the Flood Defence around the village. The river is currently just below the top of the defence and cracks have formed in the wall. The river level is very high and will remain so for some time. If the cracks become bigger and the wall fails catastrophically the village will inundated rapidly. Please taken action now.

[Jax]

We have flooding again in this area, Bedfordshire/Northamptonshire, I hear Billing Aquadrome in on evac alert again. Many roads in N,Beds are flooded again, the road from Rushden to Santa Pod is closed, that I do know (just spoken with someone from MK who had to divert round it)

Edited December 20, 2012 by Jax

[sunny scunny]

Nothing too heavy so far with 12.2mm of rain since midnight, and 17mm since yesterday evening. The radar shows it intensifying around this area though, with several more hours of rain to come yet.

[Summer Sun]

Breaking News on Sky News

Village Evacuation As Flood Alerts Spread

A Hampshire village is being evacuated as heavy rainfall continues to spread across the UK, with more than 260 flood alerts and warnings issued. The Environment Agency (EA) said a severe flood warning for Wallington prompted the need for the evacuation notice. It said: "The Wallington Village next to River Wallington will be evacuated imminently by Havant Borough Council and the emergency services. "This is due to a failure in the flood defence around the village. The river is currently just below the top of the defence and cracks have formed in the wall. "The river level is very high and will remain so for some time. "If the cracks become bigger and the wall fails catastrophically the village will inundated rapidly. Please taken action now."

In addition to the severe flood warning for Wallington, near Fareham, the EA has issued 41 flood warnings and 215 flood alerts for England and Wales. Meanwhile the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has issued 12 flood alerts and 7 flood warnings for Scotland regions. The EA is constructing flood defence barriers in Shrewsbury in preparation for flooding from the River Severn. EA manager for Herefordshire and Worcestershire, Dave Throup, tweeted: "First phase going up now, Saturday peak is only from today's rain, maybe larger peak Christmas Day depending on future rain." The EA said that the River Wye will also continue to rise, reaching a peak at Ross-on-Wye on Saturday afternoon.

Heavy rain has spread across the UK from the South West, falling on ground already saturated from extended periods of rainfall and flooding last month. Sky's Isobel Lang said: "The earlier bands of rain will ease, especially in the South West, but successive bands are due to come on Friday. "The are will be very moist and warm and the expectation is for more heavy downpours."

http://news.sky.com/story/1028153/village-evacuation-as-flood-alerts-spread

[Summer Sun]

Rain total since 00:01 is 13.2mm and counting here

[Essan]

No rain at all here since early this morning - the Vale Umbrella has been doing a stunning job!

[ITSY]

Here where I am Cambridgeshire we don't have anything as bad as what I am hearing of else where, but all the drainage ditches running across local villages are nearly full. The one running next to our house can't take much more...another couple ofheavy rainbands and it will flood the garden...

[Muffelchen]

5.7mm since 09:00 this morning and that is an underestimate as my rain gauge is not in the best location and under-records. It has been wet since about 23:00 yesterday and it has not stopped. Not too heavy today but steady and incessant.

No danger of flooding here but the River Derwent between here and York is still very high (floodplain still inundated) so this will not help the situation here and no doubt, in the coming days, York itself, which has had a lot of flooding this year.

[johnholmes]

It really is a very serious looking situation for many areas in the run up to Christmas. One hesitates to compare events in the past to predicted events 1-5 days away but the timing near Christmas could hardly be worse.

Just looking at predictions for my area, over the past 2 days GFS has not predicted less than 30-40mm over a 144 h period and has had as much as 100mm in a similar period on some runs. Parts of the SW and other areas have had even more predicted and already many have flooding.

As weather fans I think we must all feel very sorry for those affected or to be affected especially as quite a number have already had flooding this year. It is hard to imagine not being able to live in your own house for months on end let alone the cost and the fear of the insurance company not paying sufficient or then refusing further cover. Folk in Doncaster have been through that in 2007 - very sad.

The 12z will soon be out and it would seem unlikely that there is going to be any meaningful reduction in rianfall totals for the next few days.

I have had 19.8mm since yesterday so I imagine that some folk in this area will have had at least 20-25% more than that as my Davis under reads thanks to houses and trees all around me.

Edited December 20, 2012 by johnholmes

[Eskimo]

Possibly the most widespread rain band I have ever seen.

[Bobby]

A lot more rain to come says 12z GFS, yet another 2-3 inches in the same places on Saturday/Sunday

Sure to cause lots more flooding I would think.