Weekend storms over but flooding is next risk

Storms that brought disruption and delay to parts of Britain abated yesterday as the main roads affected by high winds and snow were reopened.

Storms that brought disruption and delay to parts of Britain abated yesterday as the main roads affected by high winds and snow were reopened.

Despite the improving conditions, weather forecasters warned of the risk of flooding from melting snow, which had fallen across North Yorkshire and the Scottish Highlands, and heavy rain. In Cumbria, most roads on the high fells remained closed owing to Saturday's snow and the main A6 over Shap was still passable only with extreme care.

Blizzard conditions brought chaos across the country's roads on Saturday leaving at least two people dead, motorists stranded and hundreds of homes without power. A driver died when his car slid in slush in Durham, another was killed near Banff, Grampian, and 15 people were injured in three separate accidents on the snow-covered A1 in North Yorkshire.

Forecasters said it would be milder over the next few days, butwestern parts of Scotland, Wales and the south-west of England, would experience heavy rain. There could be up to 15mm of rain in parts of Scotland today.

There were five flood warnings in the Midlands by midday yesterday. There were also six flood watches in the Anglia and north-west areas of England.