Homes evacuated as month’s worth of rain in a day brings travel chaos

Parts of England endured a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours, with people forced to evacuate their homes, others stranded overnight in a shopping centre, and travel plans thrown into chaos.

An Environment Agency (EA) rain gauge showed Swineshaw in the Peak District saw 4.4in (112mm) of rain on Thursday – the highest total of anywhere across England – while flood-hit parts of Sheffield experienced 3.4in (85mm) during the same period.

The average monthly rainfall total for Yorkshire at this time of year, is 3.5in (89mm), although forecasters have predicted that the worst of the rain has now been and gone.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “Some places have seen a month’s worth of rain in one day.

“The rain is easing and moving south but obviously the impact of that will continue to be felt.”

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Other parts of Yorkshire and the Midlands woke up on Friday to their wettest day in years, with some areas set to experience travel chaos following Thursday’s deluge.

As of Friday morning, the EA had 118 flood warnings in place, as well as five severe “danger to life” warnings relating to the River Don at Barnby Dun, Kirk Bramwith, Kirk Sandall, South Bramwith and the Willow Bridge caravan site, which are all in Doncaster.

There are nearly 30 flood warnings in place for Nottinghamshire, which is due to be visited by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday.

An additional 35 homes in Mansfield were evacuated as a precaution after a mudslide in the area, while a handful of residents in Worksop were also forced to leave their homes.

In Yorkshire, Doncaster Council told people in parts of Kirk Sandall to “evacuate immediately” at around 7am after the River Don breached its banks.

Elsewhere, around 30 people sought refuge in the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield due to gridlocked traffic outside, as the extreme weather conditions meant those turning up for the Christmas lights switch-on were left stranded.

Shopper Becky Laver told BBC Radio Sheffield: “No-one looks happy, everyone looks miserable.

“People are having to buy their own pyjamas and quilts because of how cold and wet they are from the rain.”

Sheffield was particularly badly hit during flooding in summer 2007, which saw millions of pounds spend on prevention schemes.

Yet it was again hit by some of the most dramatic scenes on Thursday, with a number of roads left impassable to traffic, cars stranded in floodwater and gridlock resulting on many routes.

Rail operator Northern issued “do not travel” advice for passengers using five lines on its network hit by the deluge.

The lines involved are between Sheffield and Gainsborough, Sheffield and Lincoln, Sheffield and Goole, Hebden Bridge and Rochdale, and the line from Sheffield to Leeds via Moorthorpe.

Elsewhere, Saturday’s horse-racing meeting at Doncaster has been cancelled due to a waterlogged track.