The River Severn is continuing to rise as the weekend’s rainfall continues to drain into it’s catchment up over the Welsh hills. The situation today along the Severn River bank has become increasingly tentative as flood waters have begun to over-top temporary flood defenses installed by the Environment Agency. This tweet, posted by Dave Throup earlier today shows a low amount of flood waters overtopping the temporary flood defenses installed in Bewdley, Worestershire.
LIVE – water overtopping flood barriers at #Beales corner #Bewdley
Please avoid area and heed instructions of emergency services.
Please be aware these are not the main demountable defences on Severnside pic.twitter.com/dZbKoINRZS
— Dave Throup (@DaveThroupEA) February 25, 2020
2 Severe Flood warnings are currently in force, with still a high number of flood warnings and flood alerts in force. These 2 severe flood warnings are in force for stretches of the river Severn, including at Shrewsbury and a Wharfage, Ironbridge.
This is the latest info update regarding the situation at Shrewsbury concerning the severe flood warning;
“Severe flooding – danger to life
River levels are rising at the Welsh Bridge river gauge as a result of heavy rainfall. Consequently, flooding of property is expected to continue. Flooding is affecting Gravel Hill Lane, Sydney Avenue, Victoria Avenue, A458 Smithfield Road, A528 Coton Hill, Roushill, B5067 Berwick Road, Chester Street, Longden Coleham, Frankwell and St Julians Friar car parks. Water is under the bridge on Castle Foregate. The bus station and access to Riverside medical practice is also affected. We are expecting a prolonged peak at Welshbridge of 5.2m to 5.5m overnight tonight, Tuesday 25/02/20. The weather forecast remains unsettled for the next few days which may cause river levels to remain high. We are closely monitoring the situation. Our incident response staff are checking defences and liaising with emergency services. Please call 999 if in immediate danger and avoid contact with flood water. This message will be updated by 1am Wednesday 26/02/20, or as the situation changes.
This information was last updated at 5:29pm Tuesday 25 February 2020″ For more information on severe flood warnings and flood warnings issued please see the >Environment Agency website here.
The following chart shows the levels of the River Severn at Buildwas. Levels are still rising, however slowly, which should give officials time to monitor the rising levels. Nontheless, there is still a risk to life around the River Severn as river levels are set to continue to rise, through overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday. Significant disruption has been impacting the towns of Shrewsbury and Worester today, and will most likely continue to through Wednesday and into Thursday as river levels remain exceptionally high, nearing those record levels set earlier this decade.
The Forecast
Although there will be a lack of heavy rainfall in the coming days, large rivers like the Severn which have a long feedback time will continue to remain high, slowly subsiding into the weekend. Some additional rainfall is likely through this week, whilst not on levels experienced in the past few days, it is enough to keep concerns high for those areas affected by flooding. This GFS rainfall accumulation chart gives expected accumulation in mm between now and Sunday. As you can see, accumulations in the order of 25 to 60mm are expected, helping to keep river levels up.
Please do stay safe and heed warnings / advice given from locals regarding this situation.