Thames Valley hit by flash floods



Homes and schools in the Thames Valley have been flooded after heavy rain swept across the area. Many parts of Oxfordshire and Berkshire were hit by flash flooding on Tuesday and the Met Office has extended its severe weather warning. It has warned another 15 to 25mm of rain could fall during the day. The Environment Agency issued more than a dozen flood watches on rivers in the two counties, including the Thames, and one Oxford school was closed. Five hundred pupils at Peers School in Littlemore, apart from those doing their GCSEs, have been sent home. Residents in Three Mile Cross in Reading, Berkshire, whose homes were flooded last summer, have again found themselves battling to keep the water out which has flooded many residential roads.

Drains overwhelmed
One of them, Rob Malden, saw his house badly damaged by flooding in July 2007 and has been living in a caravan since the new year. He was due to have new carpets put down next week but that has now been cancelled. He said: "After heavy rain, suddenly the ditches can't cope because they're half full to start with and then the water just rises up quickly and the road floods." Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said it had been receiving a number of calls linked to flash flooding in the east of the county and has attended incidents in Thame, Chinnor and Wheatley. Matt Oakes, from the Environment Agency, said: "We're expecting lighter rain to come through later and we are not expecting any property flooding from our rivers at the moment. "There is lots of surface water problems because of the rain where it's just overwhelming the drains and flooding the roads, but we're not expecting anything to happen from our rivers." Flood watches were also issued for the Cherwell, Cole, Evenlode, Loddon, Pang, Ray, Ock, Thame and Windrush.

_{Bron: BBC} | Gewijzigd: 24 april 2017, 10:22 uur, door Joyce.s