Heavy rainfall drenched major rivers across Britain on Friday, triggering over 300 flood warnings from the government, causing significant travel disruptions, and leading to damage in approximately 1,000 homes.
A series of storms in recent weeks has saturated the ground, and the prolonged rainfall that commenced on Thursday exacerbated the situation, causing already-swollen rivers and waterways to overflow in various regions of England and Wales.
In central England, the River Trent flooded, prompting the declaration of a major incident by the local authority. London’s fire service reported the need to rescue around 50 individuals late on Thursday after a canal in the east of the capital overflowed.
Caroline Douglass, the director overseeing flood management at the Environment Agency, described the current situation as a “very wet situation across the country” in an interview with the BBC.