Homes evacuated and power cuts as Storm Frank hits UK

Large parts of the country were battered by Wednesday's heavy rain and gale-force winds, which prompted the most severe "danger to life" flood warnings to be issued for a time.

Lots of United Kingdom flood warnings remain in place after Storm Frank hit Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.

Areas in southern Scotland and Cumbria in northern England were expecting to get another 100 millimetres (4 inches) of rainfall after Storm Frank made landfall, according to the Met Office.

The storm also caused flooding and power cuts in northern England, Northern Ireland and Ireland.

The storm also took its toll on the Grade-II listed Victorian Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare in North Somerset, which partially collapsed in the high winds.

The Met Office warns to be prepared for surface water and river flooding.

More than 20 warnings have been issued for Tayside, while residents in the Dumfries and Galloway, Aberdeenshire and Central areas have also been warned of flooding.

Environment Agency deputy chief executive David Rooke said it would have to look at ways to flood-proof homes as well as traditional defences as the United Kingdom was "moving into a period of unknown extremes".

The EA's chairman Sir Philip Dilley earlier visited flood victims in Yorkshire, after he returned from a Christmas holiday to Barbados amid criticism at the timing of his break during some of the worst storms in decades.

Powerful winds have already disrupted flights in and out of Belfast International Airport where planes were held or diverted among gusts of up to 55 knots, or about 63 miles per hour.

Mr O'Leary said the flooding was worse than that which hit the town on December 5th and 6th but many traders, himself included, had not yet replaced damaged flooring.

At one point 4,000 homes in Enniskillen area were without power as contractors risked their own safety throughout the night to reconnect power cables in winds of up to 60mph.

The fourth was issued in response to the collapse of Tadcaster Bridge in North Yorkshire which caused a nearby gas pipe to rupture.

A woman is helped out of a house in Mytholmroyd in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, where flood sirens were sounded after torrential downpours.

Parts of Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire face a risk of flooding as a result of the River Severn remaining high. This is being done in consultation with Dumfries and Galloway Council and Police Scotland.

An army Chinook helicopter was used to drop portable power generators on to the barrier's roof on Monday and severe flood warnings that had been in place for York since Boxing Day were lifted yesterday after four of eight pumps started working again.

A major incident was declared in the Borders town of Peebles as the River Tweed reached its highest level since 1994, bursting its banks across a wide area.

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