Flood alerts issued for Shropshire after heavy rain
Flood alerts have been issued for rivers across Shropshire as heavy rain continues to affect the county.
Low lying fields and footpaths along the River Severn are under water and with another weather warning for wind and rain for Saturday the Environment Agency says river levels with remain high and will continue to be so throughout the weekend.
It has opened its Midlands incident room to monitor the situation, the first time this year.
There is a flood alert on the Severn/Vyrnwy confluence from the Welsh border at Llawnt to Shrawardine near Shrewsbury expected to peak at Llanymynech this evening . Low lying land and roads next to the river including at Maesbrook and Melverley are expected to be affected.
The Severn from Shrewsbury to Upper Arley also has a flood alert in place and the Environment Agency says other locations that may be affected include Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge and Bridgnorth.
"The River Severn is bankfull," Dave Throup from the Environment Agency said.
"We expect river levels to remain high until March 16, please plan driving routes to avoid low lying roads near rivers and avoid using low lying footpaths near local watercourses. Our incident response staff are closely monitoring the situation."
"We are looking at the latest forecast and potential impacts over next few days. Rivers are full and the ground is saturated. Relatively small amounts of rain are pushing levels up quickly."
Weather forecasters are predicting more heavy rain and winds gusts of more than 40 miles an hour for Saturday before things calm down for next week.
