Midlands Flooding

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson, has praised flood defences in Upton-upon-Severn.

After they successfully prevented flooding in the Worcestershire town during the wettest year in England last year, he described them as 'magnificent'.

He said; " I would like to pay tribute to the work of the Environment Agency, fire, ambulance, police andother rescue services, local authorities, the voluntary sector and local communities who contributed to the flood response.

I saw for myself some of the magnificent work that results from this multi-agency response when I visited Upton-upon-Severn to see new flood defence schemes successfully keeping high river flows at bay."

The Waterside barriers defend 64 properties with a 1 in 150 chance of flooding.

Six months after being officially opened, flood defences in Upton-upon-Severn have been praised by the Government.

The Waterside scheme successfully prevented flooding to 64 properties in the Worcestershire town last year, which was the wettest year in England since records began.

The town which is on the River Severn, has a long history of flooding, with over 70 floods since 1970.

A church warden from Severn Stoke speaks of how they used the last floods in 2007 to make sure they did not get as badly affected this time.

John Henderson says there has been no damage to the church so far.

All the pews are propped up on plastic vegetable boxes at the St Denys Church in Severn Stoke. The recent flooding has forced the church to move its carol service next Sunday (9 December) to the pub next door.

These pictures show the difference between flooding earlier in the week and the water left over today (2 December).

Kempsey in Worcestershire was one of the worst affected areas in the Midlands when the flooding started last weekend.

The number of flood warnings and alerts for the Midlands has fallen again to just over 50. The level of the River Severn has dropped overnight and during today.

Dry weather has helped improve things. But much of the region remains saturated and any more heavy rain could cause more serious problems. Keith Wilkinson has the latest.