Woman dies after being rescued from car that plunged into Devon river

Woman rescued from car but later pronouced dead

A woman has died after her car plunged into the River Tavy in Devon.

Rescue teams searched the river below Lopwell Dam, near Plymouth, after reports a car had entered the water shortly before 10am on Thursday.

Firefighters rescued the woman from the car and she was rushed to hospital, but she later died of her injuries.

Her death is not being treated as suspicious and is not thought to be related to Storm Ciarán, which has battered southwest England this week.

Search and rescue teams attended the scene near Lopwell Dam (Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team)

Her family has been informed and a coroner will carry out a post-mortem examination to establish her cause of death.

A search of the stretch of river where her car was found ended after no other casualties were found.

A police spokesman said: “The death is being treated as unexplained at this time and officers are conducting enquiries into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

“The car was secured by the fire service and has since been recovered.”

It comes as the threat of flooding remains high in the south of England as the UK feels the after-effects of the devastating storm.

Waves crash over the promenade in Folkestone, Kent, as Storm Ciaran brings high winds and heavy rain along the south coast of Englan (Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

Almost 90 flood warnings were in place early on Friday morning, with more than 235 flood alerts stretching up through the country.

Hundreds of schools were closed in the south of England because of the risk to pupils, after the Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for winds that were “strong and potentially disruptive” in the southwest, Wales, London, the southeast and the east of England.