Southern parts of the UK are again being hit by rain and strong winds with forecasters warning of gales to come.
The Met Office has issued an amber warning for high winds in south Wales and south-west England, with 60-70 mph coastal gusts and large waves expected.
The warning, which is valid until 06:00 GMT on Sunday, says gusts could reach 80mph in exposed locations.
Coastguards in Cornwall say they are expecting “phenomenal” waves off shore, possibly reaching 45ft (14m) in height.
The Ministry of Defence has put 1,500 personnel on notice to help in southern England if needed.
On Saturday morning, about 670 homes in the Newbury, Basingstoke, Bournemouth and Salisbury areas were without electricity.
More than 300 homes in Cornwall also had no power.
Concrete
In Dawlish, where the key railway line between Devon and Cornwall has been destroyed by waves, concrete has been sprayed onto the cliff behind the track.
The aim is to make the area safer, with more high winds and large waves expected.
The BBC’s Jenny Hill, in Paignton on the south Devon coast, says the main concern is the high tide between 11:00 and 12:00 GMT.
Analysis
The waves that have crashed into the village of Kingsand have left their mark.
Windows are boarded up in buildings all along the seafront and all that remains of a large bench are its metal feet still buried in concrete. The rest of the bench was thrown through a shop front.
Yet, despite all the storm warnings, people gathered in a pub next to the shoreline, determined to show their resilience in the face of the wind and rain.
That is not to say that people have not been affected and shaken by the events of the last week. Some people here have been injured and several others have had to leave their homes.
And there are real concerns for a clock tower that has stood in Kingsand for decades. Its base is gradually being eroded away by the force of the crashing water.
As the waves and weather continue their indiscriminate assault on the Cornish coast, every effort is being made to keep the clock tower standing.
“Waves will get higher and higher, impacting sea defences which have already taken quite a battering,” she said.
The Environment Agency says there is a significant risk of further flooding on Saturday throughout Devon and Cornwall.
The Conservative MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, Ian Liddell-Grainger, said river levels in his constituency remained “enormously high” and people there were “having to batten down again to prepare for the next storm”.
He again criticised the Environment Agency and its head, the former Labour cabinet minister Lord Smith, for not dredging in the area to prepare for storms.
“We have been let down by London,” he said. “On the ground they [Environment Agency staff] are working hard. Up in London I don’t know what they are doing.”
The Prospect union, which represents staff in the Environment Agency, rejected the comments, saying there was a “concerted effort to criticise the Environment Agency rather than those who have cut their budget by £45m a year”.
Supt Ian Wylie of Avon and Somerset police said agencies working in the area were constantly trying to plan ahead but there would be no quick solutions.
“The biggest challenge is the longevity of this,” he said. “The bucket really is full. Any more rain is compounding the problem.
“It is going to be a number of weeks before this response phase moves into recovery.”
Yellow warning
An amber rain warning for southern England expired at 06:00 GMT, but a less severe yellow warning is valid until 06:00 GMT on Sunday.
The yellow warning covers the entire south of England plus parts of the Midlands and much of Wales.
Jacob Cope, of the BBC Weather Centre, said winds would strengthen through the day and peak in the mid-afternoon.
He said the high wind speeds would continue through the evening before easing early on Sunday.
Even in some inland areas, winds of 40-50mph would be seen, he added.
He also warned that Wales, north-west England and south-west Scotland could get 20-30mm (1in) of rain through the course of Saturday.
In other developments:
- The Environment Agency is moving more staff from north-west England to flood-hit areas further south
- Transport operators say some disruption still exists but the picture is improving
- Flybe is increasing its number of weekday flights between Gatwick and Newquay in Cornwall to six from three
- Rail operator First Great Western has put in place special ticketing arrangements so that passengers affected by flood disruption can buy cheaper advance fares while revised timetables are put in place
- Speed restrictions are in place across much of the rail network in Kent because of high winds and the likelihood of debris on the track
- A landslip at Meopham is causing disruption to rail services between London and Gillingham
- The Cumbrian Coast line is due to reopen on Monday after weeks of repairs from a storm surge
- On the M25, two of four lanes remain closed clockwise between Junction 16 and 17
- Link roads from the M40 onto the M25 clockwise are also closed because flooding has spread from surrounding fields onto the carriageway
- The Cabinet Office said the government’s Cobra emergency committee would continue to meet throughout the weekend.
Defences breached
At Kingsand in Cornwall, where dozens of homes were damaged by huge waves on Wednesday, the BBC’s Dominic Hurst said Friday night’s high tide passed with “no apparent new damage” to properties.
The Environment Agency has two severe flood warnings – which mean “danger to life” – in place, both in Somerset.
The agency has also issued more than 190 flood warnings and more than 300 flood alerts.
One of the areas covered by a severe flood warning is the village of Moorland, where about 80 homes were evacuated after the local water level rose by about one metre overnight on Thursday, breaching temporary flood defences in the early hours of Friday.
Parts of Somerset have been flooded for several weeks
Marines have helped the emergency services deal with flooding in Moorland, SomersetWeather information
On Friday Prime Minister David Cameron and Environment Agency chairman Lord Smith visited the Somerset Levels, which have been severely affected by flooding for several weeks.
Resident Jim Winkworth accused Lord Smith of “letting everyone down” by not doing more to help, but Lord Smith said he was very proud of the work his agency had done.
Mr Cameron admitted there were “lessons to learn” from the flooding in Somerset.
On Wednesday the prime minister announced an extra £100m would be spent over the next year tackling the aftermath of recent flooding.
But according to a report in the Times, a letter was sent to the Downing Street last summer warning of the danger of flooding in the Somerset Levels.
The letter requested help to fund dredging, but it was passed to the floods minister and he rejected the plea, the newspaper reported.
David Cameron: “There are lessons to learn… but right now the priority is that everyone in Somerset who needs help is getting help”
BBC