By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : Normal life has been thrown out of gear in large parts of England and Wales as torrential rains in the last week has flooded homes, business establishments, roads and railway tracks, causing an estimated damage of over two billion pounds.
Southern Britain has been deluged by some of the heaviest rainfall in living memory as areas received up to one sixth of their entire annual rainfall in less than 24 hours.
The downpour knocked out satellite communications, cut power, forced schools and homes to be evacuated, and badly disrupted roads and railways.
Steve Randall, a forecaster for the Met Office, said: "I've never seen anything like it, and I've been in the Met Office for 34 years. It's an extraordinary amount, more like you would expect in a tropical rainforest."
Emergency services were severely stretched, as swathes of otherwise picturesque countryside went under several feet of water, turning roads into lakes. People in Gloucestershire were facing serious drinking water shortage. By Sunday evening, the reserves of clean water were running out.
Areas affected by torrential rains and flooding include the counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and parts of London. Damage to infrastructure and private property has been extensive, running into billions of pounds.
The Royal Air Force has launched one of its biggest peacetime rescue operations in Worcestershire, where people were airlifted to safety over the weekend. Thousands of people have spent dreary nights in emergency centres.
Environment Agency chief executive Baroness Young told the BBC that about £1 billion a year was needed to improve flood defences. She said more investment was essential because climate change would lead to increased rainfall.
She added: "It will take some time to get flood defences into place and it won't completely remove the risk of flooding".
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said the conditions were "unprecedented". He said: "This was very, very intense rainfall, with five inches in 24 hours in some areas, even some of the best defences are going to be overwhelmed".
The Association of British Insurers said that the total bill for the June and July floods could reach £2 billion.
Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, agreed more needed to be spent on flood defences. "It was known for some days that this was likely to happen. I think there'll be questions asked about the degree of preparedness there was to meet what is obviously a very, very dramatic outcome," he said.
Conservative leader David Cameron, who has called for a public inquiry into the crisis, said people wanted to know why flood defence resources were often miles away from where they were needed.
The Guardian reported that in Cheltenham, one couple's plans for the perfect wedding went down the drain as they and 100 guests were marooned in their church by floodwaters five feet deep.
As Sarah Parfitt, 34, married Andy Holtom, 31, at the Holy Trinity church, torrential rain caused a stream next to the church to swell and burst its banks, sending filthy brown water churning towards the church building.
They were confronted by floodwater on stepping out for photographs, and, after calling the fire service, were told to stay put. The new Mrs Holtom said: "When I imagined my wedding day as a little girl, I always thought it would be sunny and totally perfect – I had no idea it would end up like this."