Flood alert issued as River Severn responds to weekend deluge in Wales
A flood alert has this morning been issued for the River Severn following a deluge of rain in mid Wales at the weekend.
The Environment Agency says that some relief is on the way as after some scattered showers today it is expected to become more settled and drier for the remainder of the week.
A spokesperson said: "River levels have risen at the Crew Green river gauge as a result of rainfall over the weekend. Further scattered showers are forecast for Monday. It will become more settled and drier for the remainder of the week."
Flooding is expected to affect low-lying land and roads from Shrewsbury to Upper Arley in the latest alert.
There are also flood alerts in place for the Severn Vyrnwy Confluence and the Tern and Perry catchments, and more across the border in the Llangollen area, the River Vyrnwy, River Tanat and River Cain & their tributaries and areas around the River Severn from Newtown to the Severn-Vyrnwy Confluence.
The Environment Agency has predicted peaks at Crew Green 5.5m to 5.7m Monday evening, Montford 4.7m to 5.0m Tuesday morning, Welsh Bridge 2.5m to 2.8m Tuesday afternoon, Buildwas 3.5m to 4.0m Wednesday.
The top of the normal range at Welsh Bridge is 2.7m.
The experts expect river levels to remain high for the next few days and are closely monitoring the situation.
"Please avoid using low lying footpaths near local watercourses and avoid contact with flood water," they add.
Former Environment Agency manager Dave Throup tweeted that it was "another wet weekend across Wales, with locations seeing 15mm of rain or more and 30-60mm widely over the hills and mountains."
Telford weather watcher Liam Ball tweeted that rainfall totals for the year so far were "well above average"
"I topped 1000mm yesterday with 1004.91mm so far this year," he said.
"Shawbury yearly average (91-20) is 682.53mm, so well above average."
