Flood warning issued for Shrewsbury after day of heavy rain across Shropshire

After a day of heavy rain, the Environment Agency issued the warning for The Showground and The Quarry at 4.35pm on Thursday as the River Severn continued to rise at the Welsh Bridge river gauge.

Issuing the warning, the agency said "flooding of property, roads and farmland is expected", adding: "We expect flooding to affect offices at the showground and Gravel Hill Lane.

"Predicted peak at Welshbridge 3.2m to 3.6m Friday evening, 29/12/23.

"Further rainfall is forecast and we expect river levels to remain high for the next few days.

"We are closely monitoring the situation. Our incident response staff are checking defences and liaising with Local Authorities."

Photos from Shrewsbury taken on Thursday showed parts of The Quarry, as well as footpaths alongside the River Severn, under water.

Flood warnings also remain in place along the River Vyrnwy at Maesbrook and Melverley.

The Vyrnwy peaked at 4.3m at Llanymynech, on Thursday morning, and is expected to peak at 6-6.2m at Crew Green on Friday.

Power cuts had been reported around Powys throughout Thursday, although most areas had power restored by the evening.

One power cut near Chirk took longer to resolve because of necessary repairs, said provider SP Energy.

A statement said: "There is a power cut in the LL14 and SY10 postcode areas of Chirk and Bronygarth. Restoration is taking longer than expected because of repairs required to grounded overhead lines."

Anyone still without power in North Shropshire or North Wales is advised to call SP Energy on 0800 001 5400.

The Environment Agency said it expected flooding to affect properties and roads in and around Maesbrook and Melverley, including the Melverley to Melverley Green and Ponthen to Melverley roads.

Other flood alerts remain in place along the Lower Teme between Ludlow and Bransford, Rea Brook and Cound Brook between Shrewsbury and Church Stretton - as well as Minsterley, Pontesford and Harrington, the River Dee catchment from Whitchurch to Chester, the Severn throughout the rest of Shropshire, the Severn Vyrnwy confluence from the Welsh border at Llawnt to Shrawardine, and the Tern and Perry catchments in the area between Newport, Market Drayton and Wem.

The yellow warning for high wind covered most of Wales and east Shropshire expired at 3am on Thursday, which had forecast gusts of up to 60mph, but strong winds continued throughout the day, along with prolonged periods of heavy rainfall.

Flood barriers were put up in Ironbridge on Wednesday morning, with defences at Frankwell in Shrewsbury, and Bewdley, having been in place since before Christmas to guard against rising river levels.

Chris Bainger from the Environment Agency said that high winds made the deployment in Ironbridge "particularly challenging".

The Heart of Wales Line between Craven Arms and Swansea was left closed due to flooding. National Rail said road replacement transport was running, with the line expected to be closed until the end of New Year's Day.

A road was reportedly closed on Thursday morning due to a fallen tree on Haughton Lane, Shifnal.

Near Telford, a driver had to be rescued by fire crews after their vehicle got stuck in water.

The incident at around 1.30pm near the former Grove Inn pub in Walcot saw a fire crew from Wellington Station attend.

A spokesperson for the Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said the vehicle was hauled free from the water using the fire engine.