Hundreds of flood warnings have activated across the UK ahead of Storm Ciaran’s expected departure this weekend.
The Environment Agency, which is responsible for monitoring England’s flood risks, and SEPA, its Scottish equivalent, have placed nearly 300 warnings and alerts over the home nations today.
The organisations have advised people to prepare for the worst as Ciaran stirs chaos into the next week, with forecasters predicting further unsettled weather as the UK approaches mid-November.
The Met Office anticipates “wet and windy weather” over the next few days, and some meteorologists have gone a step further.
They have pre-emptively named the next storm, predicting the system following Ciaran will prove nearly as powerful.
The Environment Agency has placed 276 alerts and warnings over England alone today, with alerts in Scotland adding another six to a total of 282.
The former notice makes up the bulk, with 209 dotted around the coast and a cluster of inland areas prepared for “possible” flooding today.
Flood alerts are issued by the EA early to “give advance notice of the possibility of flooding” and before the organisation is “fully confident that flooding in Flood Warning Areas is expected”.
Flood warnings, of which there are currently 67, tell people and organisations to “take immediate action to protect themselves and/or their property”.
Flood warnings tell people to prepare for the following impacts:
- Flooding of homes
- Flooding of businesses
- Flooding of cellars and basements
- Flooding of underground rail stations and lines
- Flooding to roads with Major impacts
- Flooding to infrastructure
- Wave/spray overtopping
- Extensive flooding on floodplains (including caravan parks or campsites)
- Flooding of major tourist/recreational attractions
Those warnings may remain over the coming Saturday, November 4, when the Met Office has issued one of its own for rain, with up to 1.7 inches falling between 5am and 11.59pm.
Oil Claydon, a spokesman for the Met Office, said that, in the days following, patchy rain and wind will buffet the UK, but not to the extent seen when Babet and Ciaran made landfall.
He said: “On Saturday, the North will have sunshine and showers, whilst further wet and windy weather affects England and Wales. Rain will become showery into the afternoon with sunny spells developing.
“Through Sunday and into the start of next week, it will be mostly fine in the east although sunny spells and blustery showers further west. It is expected to become more widely showery into Tuesday.”
