UK could face winter of flooding

Britain is facing further flooding in the coming months, with soils left saturated by heavy summer downpours unable to absorb extra rainwater, experts warned.

The Environment Agency has given "enhanced flood warnings" across England and Wales because massive amounts of water stored underground following the recent deluges could overflow if further heavy rain hits the country

If this week's calmer weather foments sustained sunshine, water-logged ground could dry out.

But with the approaching winter months, the danger of more flooding could persist through to next year, according to Terry Marsh, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology at Wallingford in Oxfordshire.

He said: "If we have a very dry autumn, soils could dry out, but typically, with average rainfall, we can expect an enhanced flood risk all throughout autumn and winter.

"Soils have been the wettest since records began in 1961. The rainfall that flooded Tewkesbury was exceptional - you would expect to see that sort of thing maybe once every thousand years."

With no monsoon and little seasonal variation in rainfall, summer rainfall levels in the UK are comparable to winter.

The Environment Agency said it was "worried" about land in the North, Wales, Midlands and South West, after rain in July and August filled aquifers across the regions, and normally drier summer water levels were already high in the run-up to autumn.

Spokesman Simon Hughes warned that there was little that authorities could do to absorb the effects and would be unable to pinpoint water developments more than several hours beforehand, leaving them at the mercy of natural processes.

Meteogroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said a crisis looked unlikely in the shorter term, with relatively mild weather expected over the next week.