Storm Christoph floods give way to minus 10°C winter freeze in UK

Environment minister says ‘flooding danger has not passed’

A woman skis through the snow across Edinburgh Castle, Scotland, after Storm Christoph brought challenging weather conditions to the UK. AP.

Temperatures in Britain will drop as low as minus 10°C this weekend as Storm Christoph is followed by freezing weather conditions.
Parts of the UK were devastated by flooding on Tuesday and Wednesday, leading to the evacuation of hundreds of homes in Wales and north-west England.

But Met Office forecasters say conditions are about to become “more wintry” as the storm moves east.

“We’re losing the rain but gaining some colder and possibly some wintry weather too”, meteorologist Craig Snell said.

A yellow weather warning for ice is in place along a large part of western coasts until 10am on Friday.
The alert – which stretches from the Scottish Highlands down to north-west England and into Wales, as well as covering Northern Ireland – says there is the possibility of injuries from icy conditions on ground that is already wet.

An additional yellow warning for snow and ice is in place across northern parts of Scotland until Friday lunchtime.

The chilly weather will continue into the weekend, when temperatures could drop to minus 10°C on Friday night in Scotland, and could dip as low as minus 7°C in parts of England, Mr Snell said.

Dozens of care home residents were among those escorted from their homes as floodwaters rose in Cheshire on Thursday.

About 40 residents were assisted out of the Weaver Court care home in Northwich, Cheshire, by fire crews with dinghies on Thursday afternoon, where most of the town centre was under water.

People were also told to leave their homes in the Didsbury and Northenden areas of Greater Manchester, in Bangor-on-Dee in North Wales and in the Skewen area of Neath, North Wales.

Elsewhere in Wales, emergency teams were called out to protect supplies of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine after flooding at Wrexham industrial estate.

Meanwhile, South Wales Police said on Twitter that the body of a man was recovered from the River Taff near Blackweir in Cardiff on Thursday, with the death being treated as unexplained.

Three severe flood warnings – signifying a threat to life – were in place on Friday morning on the River Dee at Farndon, Bangor-on-Dee, and the Lower Dee Valley near Llangollen.

As of 5am on Friday, there were an additional 182 flood warnings and 176 less serious flood alerts in place in England, 13 flood warnings and 27 flood alerts in Wales, and four flood alerts in Scotland.

Environment Secretary George Eustice chaired a Cobra meeting in response to the flooding on Thursday afternoon and said "the danger has not passed".

In a statement after the meeting, Mr Eustice said: “The water levels remain high and there is the risk of possible further flooding next week so everyone needs to remain vigilant, follow the advice and sign up for flood alerts.”