UK weather live: Major incident declared in second county over flooding as children stranded at primary school
Hundreds of flood warnings and alerts in place after most of country saw heavy snow or icy rainfall over weekend and consequent disruption
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Your support makes all the difference.Children have been left stranded at a primary school due to flooding in the surrounding areas, as Lincolnshire becomes the second county to declare a major incident.
Edenham Church of England school had been advised by the local fire brigade to stop parents from collecting their children, to prevent further vehicles from becoming stuck.
A major incident has also been declared in Leicestershire as the Met Office issued a number of fresh weather warnings across the UK.
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) said it declared a major incident in response to widespread flooding across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland this morning, after receiving more than 200 calls. Crews have freed cars stuck in flood water, evacuated residents from flooded homes, and rescued 17 members of the public so far.
It came as the Met Office issued several new yellow warnings for snow and ice, which cover most of the country on the first Monday of the new year, with another for snow lasting into Wednesday.
Meanwhile, hundreds of flood warnings and alerts are in place across England and Wales amid heavy rain and thawing snow.
Consequent travel chaos has continued across the UK, with key roads flooded, trains cancelled and flights delayed.
Airports prepare for more snow – with ‘polar bears’ on standby at Gatwick
After multiple airport closures across the UK, and with more snow forecast for the week, Britain’s two busiest airports are honing their “snow plans”. Severe weather shut both Heathrow and Gatwick airports shortly before Christmas 2010.
“At Snowfall T-4 hours, a conference call will be held by the Airside Tactical Team,” says the Heathrow plan.
If the snow gets heavy, the airport says: “Each runway will be suspended in succession to facilitate clearance and treatment.”
Meanwhile Gatwick recognises “seven snow states”. The climatic calibration ranges from “Met Office forecast snow in the next seven days but not expected to accumulate; no disruption to the operation of the airfield predicted” to “Snow is falling and accumulating in sufficient amounts to cause disruption”.
The Sussex airport has a team of winter volunteers are staff who are ordinarily employed elsewhere at the airport, many of them in security. They are on standby for airside snow clearance and are known as “polar bears”.
Seventy tons of grit and 80,000 gallons of de-icing fluid are waiting in the wings. If, despite all that preparation, flights are heavily delayed or cancelled? Gatwick’s “Snow Plan” includes provisions for sleeping areas with beds, blankets, food and water.
The airport says: “We have in stock 4,000 blankets, 600 mattresses, 8,000 bottles of water, 600 folding beds, 20 snow shovels, four baby bottle warmers, 10 travel cots and a mixture of baby food and nappies.”
Read more here:
Winter is here, so Gatwick is training ‘polar bears’ and ‘yetis’
The Man Who Pays His Way: Snow, ice and airports don’t mix well
Key roads and motorways closed amid severe weather including flooding
- Thousands of journeys on the M25 in Surrey are being delayed as the motorway is closed in the anti-clockwise direction from junction 10 for the A3 to junction eight for Reigate after a lorry crashed into the central reservation and came to a rest sideways across the carriageway.
- The M5 in Gloucestershire is closed southbound from junction 11A for Gloucester to junction 12 for Quedgeley because of extensive flooding.
Several stretches of A-roads across England are also closed because of severe weather, including:
- The A66 in Cumbria in both directions between the A1M and the M6 because of snow.
- The A628 Woodhead Pass in South Yorkshire/Derbyshire in both directions between the A616 for Flouch and the A57 for Hollingworth because of flooding.
- The A49 in Herefordshire in both directions between the A4112 for Stockton and the A44 for Leominster because of flooding.
- The A46 in Warwickshire is also closed in both directions between the A452 for Kenilworth and the M40 (junction 15) because of a crash. National Highways said “a car is reported to have aquaplaned due to flooding in the area”. Aquaplaning is when a driver loses control because a layer of water prevents their tyres from gripping the road.
Last night was UK’s coldest night of winter so far, according to Met Office
Last night was the UK’s coldest night of the winter so far, according to the Met Office.
The temperature plummeted to -13.3C in Loch Glascarnoch, Scotland.
However, the forecaster said southeast England was much milder, with temperatures remaining in double figures in places.
Thousands of journeys delayed as part of M25 closed after lorry crash
Thousands of journeys on the M25 in Surrey are being delayed as part of the motorway is closed following a crash that left a lorry overturned.
The M25 is shut in the anti-clockwise direction from junction 10 for the A3 to junction eight for Reigate after a lorry crashed into the central reservation and came to a rest sideways across the carriageway.
In pictures: Bradford residents wake up to another snowy morning
What weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office for today
- A yellow rain warning for southern England from Cornwall across to Kent will last until 9am on Monday.
- Meanwhile, a separate yellow rain warning covering much of the Midlands and parts of Greater Manchester and Yorkshire is in force until 10am.
- A yellow warning for snow and ice covering most of northern England and Wales is in place until midday on Monday.
- Then, a yellow ice warning covering large parts of Northern Ireland expires at 11am.
- The north and west of Scotland are covered by a yellow warning for snow and ice until 11am on Monday.
- Another for yellow warning for snow and ice in central and eastern parts of the country is in place until midday.
- A further yellow snow warning covering part of the Scottish Lowlands including Edinburgh is in place until midday.
Hundreds of flood warnings and alerts in place across England and Wales
The Environment Agency issued 173 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, and 304 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible, across England as of 9am on Monday.
At the same point, National Resources Wales had issued three flood warnings and 35 flood alerts.
Delays at Manchester airport after runways closed
Arrivals and departures have resumed at Manchester after the UK’s third-busiest airport was closed for a second morning due to heavy snow.
Only one flight was diverted: Qatar Airways flight QR21 from Doha, which for a second day touched down at Birmingham airport. The Boeing 787 is expected to fly on to Manchester, with the outbound flight to Doha currently four hours behind schedule.
The first flight out of Manchester airport on Monday morning, on easyJet to Belfast City, took off at 7.35pm – an hour late. Most other departures in the “first wave” are around two hours behind schedule.
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “Airlines are currently experiencing some disruption at Manchester airport this morning due to the temporary closure of the runway following adverse weather conditions. As a result some flights have been delayed.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and we are doing all possible to mitigate impact of the weather disruption. We would advise all customers due to fly to and from the UK today to check the status of their flights via our Flight Tracker for the latest information.
“While this is outside our control, we are sorry to customers for the inconvenience caused as a result of the weather.”
Rail closures due to flooding
Flooding has forced the closure of all railway lines between Derby and both Nottingham and East Midlands Parkway.
This is affecting CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway services.
The operators are also disrupted by flooding closing all lines between Peterborough and Leicester.
Southeastern trains are unable to run from Ramsgate or Margate towards London via Canterbury West because of a fallen tree.
Flooding near Hooton, Cheshire, means Merseyrail’s Chester services are suspended while Ellesmere Port services will run as far as Hooton.
Flight cancellations on Monday morning
Four flights have already been cancalled so far today after a weekend of closures due to snow.
Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium have shown that a further three arrivals have been cancelled as of now and that the figure is likely to rise as the day progresses.
On Sunday 152 flights were cancelled departing UK airports and a further 136 arrivals were cancelled.
Major airports including Liverpool and Manchester were forced to shut their runways due to the snow over the weekend - with Manchester also temporarily closing theirs briefly this morning before reopening them.
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