Floods devastate Ludlow's US namesake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHXg6H2XHqY&feature=related

Residents in Ludlow know what it feels like to suffer the after-effects of the devastation of flooding.

Now citizens across the Atlantic in Ludlow, Vermont, are sharing the pain of their south Shropshire namesakes after being hit by Tropical Storm Irene.

The storm dumped 30 cms of rain, causing at least three deaths in the US state.

One of the deaths, a man in his 40s was in Ludlow, Vermont, and is being investigated by police.

Other inland states such as New Jersey and North Carolina and parts of Canada have been severely hit by the storm. And soldiers are airlifting supplies to towns in Vermont cut off by the impact of the storm.

Meanwhile the last members of Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir, based near the Shropshire border, are due to return home this evening after being left stranded in New York at the end of their tour when all flights were suspended.

The floods in Ludlow, Shropshire, four years ago caused a bridge over the River Corve to collapse due to the force of the swollen waterway and caused a house to collapse into the torrent.

Similarly in America over the weekend, rivers which are usually calm were transformed into powerful torrents that washed away at least three covered bridges and closed hundreds of roads, trapping hundreds of people in cut off communities.

Up to 8.3 inches of rain, about the amount that normally falls over two months, fell in parts of Vermont in less than 24 hours.

In total the tropical storm is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 25 people across America's east coast and left a clean-up bill of an estimated $7 billion.

• For more of Drew Schwartz's pictures of flooding in Ludlow, click here