Flood alerts for Shropshire rivers after heavy rain on Christmas Day

With a wet rather rather than white Christmas in the region, there are now a number of alerts on the Government's official flood map including one for the Severn Vyrnwy Confluence where the two rivers meet.

A spokesman said: "River levels are rising at the Llanymynech river gauge as a result of heavy rainfall. We expect flooding to affect low lying land and roads adjacent to the river from the Welsh border at Llawnt to Shrawardine near Shrewsbury. Other locations that may be affected include Llanymynech, Maesbrook and Melverley. Minor roads between Maesbrook, Melverley and Pentre start to flood."

Upstream there is a flood alert for the area across the Welsh border including the River Vyrnwy, River Tanat and River Cain & their tributaries in the Llanfyllin and Meifod areas.

In the south of the county the Environment Agency said it expected flooding to affect low lying land and roads adjacent the River Teme, River Onny and River Corve and their tributaries in areas including Bishops Castle, Church Stretton, Knighton and Ludlow while high water levels on the Ledyche Brook and River Rea could affect low lying land around Cleobury Mortimer, Neen Sollars and Caynham.

To the east the Tern and Perry catchments are on flood alert from Wolverley to Newport, as well as Market Drayton, Wem and Rodington.

The spokesman said: "Further rainfall is forecast over the next few days. We are closely monitoring the situation. Please avoid using low lying footpaths near local watercourses and plan driving routes to avoid low lying roads near rivers, which may be flooded."

Dave Throup, who retires from the Environment Agency on New Year's Eve said: "It was a wet rather than white Christmas with many places across our patch seeing 25-50mm of rain since Christmas Eve. A number of flood alerts in place as rivers react and most soils are saturated now."