Heavy rainfall and gale-force winds batter Shropshire
Homes were flooded, drivers left marooned and trees torn up by their roots as gale force winds and torrential rain battered Britain and caused chaos across Shropshire and Mid Wales.
Winds with gusts of up to 45mph lashed the region and about an inch of rain fell in 24 hours, causing flash flooding. In south Shropshire four people had to be winched to safety.
The vehicle they were travelling in had become stranded in a ford.
Firefighters called to Strefford, off the A49, near Craven Arms in south Shropshire, just before noon attached a winch to the car and dragged it out.
Fire crews were also called to the A454 near Bridgnorth at 6.20pm to push a driver clear of floodwaters after he got stuck.
The A454 at Swancote was closed overnight between Bridgnorth & Worfield following flooding and at Junction 10 of the M6 at Walsall, the Wolverhampton Rd West and Wednesbury Rd, Pleck. Turn-offs were blocked when floods blew out drain covers.
Meanwhile, an ambulance station at Rhayader on the Shropshire-Wales border was damaged at 6.53pm when a tree fell on it. Fallen trees were also reported in Shrewsbury and Market Drayton.
Firefighters also had to isolate power supplies to a house which was left flooded in King Street, Dawley, Telford, shortly before 2pm yesterday.
In Wollaston, near Stourbridge, a teenage girl suffered serious head injuries after being hit by a falling tree.
The Environment Agency said it had 91 flood warnings in place across Britain and 213 flood alerts, with four in Shropshire.
They are the River Teme and its tributaries downstream of Ludlow, the Rea and Cound Brooks and their tributaries, the River Worfe, Wesley Brook and Albrighton Brook and their tributaries, and the River Teme, River Onny and River Corve and their tributaries upstream of Ludlow.
The Environment Agency said rainfall over the last 24 hours across Shropshire ranged from 0.4 to 0.8 inches (10mms to 20mms).
