Storm Bert in Great Britain: images of devastating floods

Strong winds and heavy rain continued to hit Great Britain, where Storm Bert caused significant flooding, particularly in Wales, and where around a hundred alerts are still in effect. Storm Bert began to hit the UK and Ireland overnight on Saturday, bringing strong winds, rain and heavy snow, disrupting transport and leaving tens of thousands of homes homeless. of electricity. Around 100 flood alerts are still in force across England, Scotland and Wales, with roads closed to traffic and trains cancelled.

Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan lamented the impact “absolutely devastating” flooding in this area, where 80% of November's monthly rainfall fell in the space of 48 hours. The victims are trying as best they can to evacuate the water. The residents of Pontypride, South Wales, tirelessly dump buckets into the river that runs alongside their homes. In recent days, the river has burst its banks, swollen by torrential rains. That's the equivalent of almost a month's precipitation in 48 hours. Hundreds of houses are flooded: “I’m really disgusted.”declares a resident in the video at the top of this article. “How long will it take to clean this up?”

You see the floods in Spain on the news and then it hits you.

A disaster victim

The sudden rise in water surprised residents, who were forced to evacuate. “You don’t think this could happen to you.”confides a disaster victim on the subject. “You see the floods in Spain on the news and then it hits you. And you say to yourself OK, now what do I do?”

Bad weather has affected a large part of the United Kingdom. As we can see in these images in England, the firefighters are forced to retreat as the water rushes into the streets of this city center at crazy speed. Entire neighborhoods are thus found under water. Among the victims, anger is growing: “You know, the walls supposed to protect us need to be reinforced. But the public services absolutely have no intention of putting money into that”testifies a resident. “And every year, we are there waiting in fear of being flooded as soon as it rains and it swells.”

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The risk of flooding is expected, to a lesser degree, to remain until Tuesday in parts of England. The storm brought gusts of up to 110 km/h, and some parks and tourist attractions in London were closed as a precaution.