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22 Mar 2013

Woman dies as snow and floods batter Britain

Rescuers uncover a body trapped under a landslide after heavy rain, amid school closures and power cuts caused by extreme weather during the coldest March in decades.

Rescuers searching for a woman who was trapped under a landslide at her property in Looe, Cornwall have found a body in the wreckage, said Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service.

Heavy rain is thought to have caused the landslide at converted flats in Looe, south east Cornwall.

The operation has now been taken over by Devon and Cornwall Police, and the body has not yet been identified.

Snow, sleet and rain caused flooding and disruption across the UK, with the heaviest snow falling in Cumbria, south west Scotland, and eastern Northern Ireland.

Signs of spring were few and far between, as forecasters warned this month could be the coldest March in 50 years.

The south west of England suffered severe flooding, with 12 flood warnings in place, and transport disruption widespread.

Over 1,000 schools were closed and 40,000 homes are still without power in Northern Ireland after heavy sleet and snow swept across the UK. NI Electricity drafted in emergency crews from the Republic of Ireland to help.

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Sellafield nuclear power station was also forced to close for a few hours on Friday as a precaution, but was later reopened. The station, close to the village of Seascale in Cumbria, is the largest nuclear site in Europe and employs more than 10,000 people.

Electricity North West said about 1,500 properties in Cumbria remained without power on Friday evening and repair work was being held back by road closures, preventing access to some communities.

The company is considering using a helicopter to transport engineers.

Farmer Roy Kerby feeds sheep after snowfall in Etwall, central England (R)

Widespread disruption

Emergency services were forced to respond to a surge in weather-related call-outs with government agencies issuing a string of warnings urging the public to take care on the roads. Snow fell heavily north of the M4 corridor, with up to eight inches hitting the worst affected areas of north west of England, north Wales and south west Scotland.

Higher areas could even see up to 16 inches fall, while bitterly cold gale force winds swept across Britain creating blizzard-like conditions and plunging temperatures down to well below freezing.

Met office weather warnings
Flood warnings issued by the Enviroment Agency
Highways Agency traffic news
Traffic disruption map from the AA
Train travel news from National Rail

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Travel disruption

In Birmingham, the weather woes caused gridlock after melting snow flooded the St Chad’s Queensway tunnel, shutting the key road artery and leaving traffic backed up along main routes into the city centre.

The Met Office has issued a number of severe weather warnings urging the public to be prepared for “severe disruption” to transport and energy services.

The Environment Agency issued flood warnings along the south west coast, and 80 flood alerts, where flooding is possible, were in place throught England.

The AA issued warnings to motorists that even short journeys could be difficult, and there could be a repeat of the scenes in southern England last week when hundreds of drivers were stranded in their cars overnight.

Between 1.6 to 2.4 inches is set to fall over southern Devon and Cornwall on Friday, and up to 4 inches on exposed southern slopes.