Deadly Storm Dennis menaces UK with another weekend of wild weather | Euronews
By AP • last updated: 15/02/2020 - 22:43
Storm Dennis battering Britain, one week on from Storm Ciara
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AP
- Matt DunhamRescuers pulled two bodies from rough seas off southern England and soldiers helped build flood barriers on Saturday as Storm Dennis gave the UK and Ireland their second straight weekend of deadly extreme weather.
Flights were cancelled, railway lines blocked and roads flooded as the system barrelled in from the North Atlantic with near-record low pressure.
The fourth named storm of the season has the potential to cause more damage than last weekend's Storm Ciara given the already saturated ground in many areas.
Video posted to social media showed the extent of the disruption, including a Caledonian Macbrayne ferry rolling in Ardrossan harbour in Scotland.
The body of one man was pulled out of the sea by a lifeboat following a distress call from the B Gas Margrethe, a Maltese tanker that had been anchored off Margate, Kent.
In a separate incident, the body of a second man was pulled from the sea in the afternoon. The Met Office had 31 flood warnings in place around England, which means flooding was expected over the weekend. Another 26 were issued in Scotland and six in Wales.
Heavy rain in northern France
MeteoFrance issued heavy rain and flood warnings for a handful of departments in northern France, where some areas were forecast to receive up to three weeks' worth of rain over the weekend.
Much of the flood concern focused on northern England, which suffered during Storm Ciara, when at least eight people were killed across Europe.
On Saturday, around 75 British army personnel and 70 reservists were helping out stretched communities in the flood-hit Calder Valley region in West Yorkshire, constructing barriers and repairing damaged flood defenses.
“Our armed forces are always ready to support local authorities and communities whenever they need it," Britain's Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said. “The rapid response of the Army today will help with provision of flood relief to local communities in West Yorkshire.”