Torrential rain lashes UK as flash flooding forces residents to evacuate

Yellow weather warning remains in place until 3am on Friday

(Callum Parke/PA Wire)

Heavy rainfall and strong winds hit parts of the UK on Thursday as an elderly woman died and flash flooding forced residents to evacuate.

A major incident was declared in Nottinghamshire “due to rising levels along the river Trent” as the council warned residents who live in flood risk areas to prepare to evacuate.

An elderly woman died after her car hit a fallen tree. The 87-year-old, who has not been named, was in a red Smart Forfour when she collided with it near Crays Pond, Oxfordshire at around 5.25pm on Tuesday.

Residents from five mobile homes at Radcliffe Residential Park were rescued by firefighters on Thursday. A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said the water levels will continue to rise over the next 12 hours.

Floodwater surrounds houses in Summer Way, Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire (PA)

It added that the latest forecasts were showing that peaks along the river Trent could “come close to the highest levels on record from the year 2000”, adding that residents in areas along the Trent Valley should be “prepared for flooding”.

In a statement, Nottinghamshire County Council said: “Key tributaries which feed in to the river Trent, including the river Derwent, the river Soar and the river Dove, have already reached their peaks and high water levels will now pass down the Trent, which is likely to lead to the flooding to properties and roads.”

Heavy rainfall and strong winds lashed parts of the UK on Thursday (Getty)

Anne McLeod, of Radcliffe-on-Trent Parish Council, said: “It’s directly adjacent to the Trent so they get it quite badly, but in my memory, and I’ve lived in Radcliffe since 1975, this is the highest it’s been since 2000 when it last flooded that area.”

She added that several homes are without electricity.

Large parts of Britain are still experiencing flood warnings after Storm Henk brought heavy rain to already saturated ground (EPA)

The flooding also left a man stranded on his shed roof as he waited to be rescued by a crew from Highfields Fire Station who used a boat to bring him safely to land.

Elsewhere, a number of cows drowned in a flooded Derbyshire field following heavy rain, Derbyshire Constabulary’s rural crime team said.

Man stranded on a shed roof rescued after Storm Henk brings floods to Nottingham (PA)

In London, a party boat which acts as a floating bar, restaurant and nightclub has sunk in the River Thames.

Various rail routes were disrupted by the severe weather as train services running across Great Western Railway, the Gatwick Express, Southern and Thameslink networks were majorly disrupted, National Rail said.

The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning from 12pm on Thursday with rainfall expected to travel in a northeast direction across the south of England, lasting until 3am on Friday.

The warning comes in the wake of Storm Henk that battered the UK on Tuesday and forced people to evacuate their homes, leaving one man dead from a tree falling in 90mph winds on the Isle of Wight.