Rain to ease in flood-ravaged regions after death of woman but cold weather is on its way
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Neil Connery
Regions of the UK battered by rain look set to avoid further downpours after a woman was reportedly swept away by floodwater in Derbyshire.
But as the rain eases the cold weather will set in, with a rapid temperature drop expected to bring frost and even the potential of snow in some places.
Many parts of the country experienced a frosty start to the weekend with minus 7C recorded in Braemar, Scotland, on Saturday morning.
In Derbyshire, the water level in the River Derwent peaked at 3.4 metres as of Friday night, which is more than three times what it should be at this time of year.
The body of a woman believed to have been swept away by floodwater was recovered in the county at about 10.40am on Friday, Derbyshire Police said.
Jeremy Corbyn called for better flood management as he prepared to visit the deluged communities.
During a visit to Leeds on Saturday, the Labour leader said: “Obviously we need much better flood management and prevention schemes.
“It also means properly funding our fire and rescue services and properly funding our Environment Agency to deal with this.
“The Environment Agency has lost a fifth of its staff, the fire services have lost more than a fifth of their staff. They’re struggling to cope with this.”
After visiting the region Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared the severe weather across the UK "is not looking like something we need to escalate to the level of a national emergency".
Mr Johnson said the Government will “certainly stand by ready to help” after the country was hit by deluge of water described as “almost biblical” by residents in Toll Bar, near Doncaster.
Yorkshire and the Midlands were among the worst-affected areas.
The Environment Agency had issued seven severe flood warnings suggesting there is a “danger to life”.
All seven warnings are for the River Don, at Barnby Dun, Bently, Fishlake, Kirk Bramwith, Kirk Sandall, South Bramwith and Willow Bridge caravan site.
There are also 63 warnings telling people to take immediate action in light of expected flooding, along with 99 alerts which urged residents to be prepared.
Residents were forced from their homes on Friday, travel routes remain disrupted across the north of England as a month’s worth of rain fell in just 24 hours.
A heavy band of rain is set to spread east across Northern Ireland into Saturday before drying out in the evening.
County Down could see up to 50mm, although most areas in the region could get 20-30mm.
Mr Keates said that some snow is possible in parts of Wales and the first snow of the autumn could hit the mountain tops of Snowdonia.
Cold weather is also on the way in parts.
Mr Keates said: “In the coldest temperatures in Scotland, it could be minus 6C while parts of southern England could see minus 2C.”