England braces for flooding with 400 alerts as extra snow hits Scotland

Much of England was on flood watch as we speak whereas snow continued in Scotland after a bunch of schoolchildren pushed a stranded bus on an icy street in Sheffield.

Heavy snow remains to be falling in Scotland the place a Met Office warning for up 8in (10cm) will run till 3pm tomorrow, however concern in England has turned to flooding.

More than 400 flood alerts or warnings have been in place throughout the UK. Most of those have been in England, with 68 warnings and 311 alerts – largely within the South and Midlands – whereas there have been 21 alerts in Wales, plus two alerts and one warning in Scotland.

In Sheffield, the youngsters went into the street to assist push a First bus within the snow on the junction between Selbourne Road and Sandygate Road within the Crosspool space.

Witness David Kessen, an area journalist for The Star, mentioned the bus obtained caught on the high of the street, however ‘discovered assist in the surprising type of a bunch of schoolchildren’.

He wrote: ‘The children gathered behind to attempt to shove the struggling automobile, displaying once more the caring neighborhood spirit that the snow brings out on this metropolis.

‘Finally, the bus gained some grip, and made it to the highest of Selbourne Road, the place it turned proper, as if to go again into the town centre.’

Another witness, Chris Mann, posted {a photograph} of the incident on X, saying: ‘School children pushing their very own bus #snow #sheffield.’

The submit has now had greater than 35,000 views – with one individual asking: ‘What within the well being and security goes right here?!’ 

Another space badly hit by snow yesterday was Buxton in Derbyshire, the place a girl was killed in a crash involving a automobile and lorry on the A515. 

While Met Office warnings for snow and rain in England have now expired, roads and railways in Scotland may nonetheless face disruption together with potential energy cuts and cell phone sign outages.

Scotrail warned of disruption on its West Highland Line which was blocked between Arrochar and Tarbet and Ardlui stations because of a fallen tree.

Elsewhere a landslip close to Baidon in West Yorkshire was impacting Northern trains between Bradford and Ilkley.

Great Western Railway mentioned flooding was inflicting disruption on routes between Bristol Parkway and Swindon, and between Plymouth and Newton Abbot.

Ferry operator Calmac mentioned extreme situations have been inflicting cancellations between Kennacraig and Islay; Lochranza and Claonaig; and Mallaig and Armadale.

Yesterday, dozens of colleges have been closed in northern England and North Wales and journey disruption was reported all through the day as amber warnings have been issued.

The Met Office measured 3.9in (10cm) of snow at Kirkwall in Orkney yesterday, and three.5in (9cm) was recorded in Bingley, West Yorkshire.

A complete of 1.7in (43.2mm) of rainfall was measured at Harbertonford in south Devon, virtually half the typical for the world in February.

Met Office operational meteorologist Dan Stroud mentioned: ‘We’ve nonetheless obtained rain and plenty of have snow making its manner northwards, we’ve obtained additional climate warnings in drive.

‘Temperatures are recovering a bit of, throughout the far south it is typically delicate. We’ve obtained a second band of cloud and rain shifting northwards, it makes for difficult driving situations.

‘We’ve had the worst of it nevertheless it’s nonetheless not fully clear. Where we’ve falling snow we see there’s a threat of some icy patches on roads.

‘The focus might be beginning to shift extra in the direction of ice, folks ought to nonetheless be cautious.’

School closures have been reported yesterday in Wales, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cumbria. 

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, urged older folks to do all they will to maintain heat and protected because the temperature drops.

She mentioned: ‘High power payments and meals costs imply it’s comprehensible that some might imagine they’ve to chop again on meals and switch their heating off, however extended publicity to chilly temperatures can have a critical influence on their well being, particularly if they’re already managing present sicknesses.

‘As we grow old our our bodies discover it more durable to regulate to massive modifications in temperature, significantly if we’re additionally dealing with in poor health well being or mobility points. The chilly raises blood stress, which in flip will increase the chance of a coronary heart assault or stroke.’

The charity gave plenty of suggestions together with loads of scorching meals and drinks, wrapping up heat exterior and sleeping with the home windows closed at night time. It additionally suggested folks to regulate older kin, associates and neighbours.