Severe flooding and snow disrupt travel as weather warnings remain

Severe flooding and snow are causing travel disruption as weather warnings remain in force.

Road and rail links have been closed while Manchester and Bristol airports were forced to suspend flights earlier on Tuesday because of the conditions.

A yellow snow and ice warning is in place across most of south-west England and Wales, coastal parts of North Wales and Merseyside and parts of north-west England and the West Midlands, until 10am on Tuesday.

The same warning is in place for western and northern parts of Scotland until midday, and in Northern Ireland until 11am.

A critical incident has been declared by East Midlands Ambulance for the first time ever, with flooding partly responsible for the “level of escalation”.

A major incident was declared by authorities in Lincolnshire on Monday night, with a warning that more flooding could occur on Tuesday.

Lincolnshire Resilience Forum said 40 flood warnings and 29 flood alerts were in place across the county, with reports of 62 properties “internally flooded”.

“We are keeping a really close watch on this as it develops because we know that there might potentially be more flooding, particularly in areas which may be affected by tidal waters,” a statement said.

It said emergency services were on standby at Greatford, near Stamford, to monitor the West Glen River, which it said threatened to inundate 49 properties in the area.

The Environment Agency has issued a severe flood warning, meaning danger to life, for the River Soar covering caravan parks near Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire.

At 8.10am on Tuesday, 190 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, and 292 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible, were active across England.

National Resources Wales has 15 flood alerts in place.

National Highways said the A1 in Lincolnshire is closed between the B6326 near Newark-on-Trent and the B1174 near Grantham because of “extensive flooding”, while the A628 Woodhead Pass in South Yorkshire/Derbyshire is shut between the A616 for Flouch and the A57 for Hollingworth because of snow.

Flooding means all rail lines are closed between Peterborough and Leicester, affecting CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway services.

Northern said a fault with the signalling system means no trains can run between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester airport.

Great Western Railway said flooding has closed the line between Liskeard and Looe in Cornwall.

Published: 07/01/2025 by Radio NewsHub