Heavy rains led to severe flooding in northern England, Scotland and Wales on Boxing Day and into Sunday, with at least 24 red alerts for "danger to life" still in effect as of Sunday afternoon local time as several rivers continued to rise above record levels.
Homes, businesses and cars have been submerged or even swept away after repeated bouts of heavy rainfall. Major cities that have been affected by flooding include Manchester, Leeds and York.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the "level of the rivers plus the level of rainfall has created an unprecedented effect, and so some very serious flooding," following an emergency conference call.
Our highest level of warning, a #RED ‘take action’, for rain has been issued for parts of #Lancashire https://t.co/mjsiicDa8q #alert— Met Office (@metoffice) December 26, 2015
"We will do everything we can to help people in this, their hour of need," Cameron said, according to the BBC.
About 500 military troops have been called in to assist rescues and recovery efforts in the worst-hit areas, with more on the way.
The Environment Agency said it had to lift a flood barrier that protected parts of York. Water levels are predicted to peak near record levels on Monday, at about 5 meters, or about 16.4 feet.
PM: I've just chaired a COBR meeting on the unprecedented flooding. Huge thanks to the emergency services & military for doing so much.1/2— UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) December 27, 2015
Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn told the BBC the flooding was the worst he had ever seen in the center of the city. The former Labour environment secretary called for increased investment, saying climate change was bringing wetter winters.
Hundreds more people have been told to evacuate their homes as heavy rains on Friday, Saturday and into Sunday capped off an unusually wet and mild December to, in many cases, set flooding records.
Police in the York area 200 miles, or 320 kilometers, north of London on Sunday directed more than 300 people to leave their homes because of rising river waters. Several hundred had been evacuated the day before in the West Yorkshire and Lancashire regions and officials said thousands had lost power.
Authorities issued some 335 flood alerts in all on Saturday, with about 230 of those alerts still in effect on Sunday. The government's emergency response team convened by telephone to coordinate rescue plans.
Passed over UK today - thoughts are with all those affected by flooding in northern England. pic.twitter.com/O2hWL6fCfy— Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) December 27, 2015
Floods Minister Rory Stewart said rainfall in the affected areas is unprecedented.
Resources are thin. Officials said 85 percent of Britain's flood defense barriers have already been deployed to the Cumbria area, in the far northwestern corner of England.
Cumulative radar image shows 24h estimated totals to 4pm. >125mm in places, and >180mm locally. #ukfloods #flooding pic.twitter.com/430QEIdoFK— MeteoGroup UK (@WeatherCast_UK) December 26, 2015
According to the Environment Agency, which handles flood warnings and response in the UK, "severe impacts from river flooding are expected to continue" through Monday in many areas.
"These impacts include the flooding of communities necessitating rescue efforts and evacuations, a danger to life from deep and fast flowing water, destruction of buildings and severe disruption to travel," the agency said on its website.
"Impacts in Greater Manchester and Lancashire may include flooding of whole communities and significant travel disruption," the agency said.
We have seen severe #flooding across parts of the northwest. Here are some rainfall totals from the past 36 hours pic.twitter.com/wwwkQmiiKW— Met Office (@metoffice) December 26, 2015
On Saturday, a former pub outside of Manchester partially collapsed as the river that runs beneath it flooded due to the heavy rain that has been relentlessly pounding north England.
No one was in the 200-year-old Waterside Inn, in Summerseat, near Bury. The pub is about 15 miles outside of Manchester.
Further along the River Irwell toward the center of Manchester, the outside seating area of another pub, the Mark Addy in Salford, was flooded with three to four feet of water.
Northwest Wales and northwest England have seen some of the heaviest rain so far today https://t.co/3z44khZPVJ— Met Office (@metoffice) December 26, 2015
An amber weather warning for #rain has been issued for NW Wales:https://t.co/jeQ7R2hsbV @metofficeuk #alert pic.twitter.com/G7HxYUAo6v— Met Office (@metoffice) December 26, 2015
How climate change may fit into this
The flooding resulted from the cumulative impacts of heavy rain that fell over Christmas combined with lingering moisture from record rains earlier in December. In particular, an intense Atlantic storm, named winter storm "Desmond," hit northern England, Scotland and Ireland in early December.
A new national 24-hour rainfall record was set on December 5 when 13.44 inches, or 341.4 millimeters, of rain fell at Honister Pass in Cumbria.
The storm flooded more than 5,000 homes and left as many as 60,000 people without power.
A recent study from Climate Central, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and the University of Oxford found that global warming increased the likelihood of the heavy precipitation from winter storm Desmond. The study, which has been submitted to a scientific journal but has not yet undergone peer review, found that an event like that is now roughly 40% more likely due to climate change than it was in the past.
#UKflood: Homes evacuated amid heavy rain https://t.co/DcXiTpFSeD— Shuvankar Mukherjee (@shuvankr) December 27, 2015
In general, warming air and sea temperatures have led to more intense precipitation extremes in many parts of the world, with a greater proportion of rain and snow falling in fewer heavy bursts rather than numerous light to moderate amounts.
December is on track to be the warmest such month on record in the UK, according to the Met Office.
Are we breaking more UK rainfall records than we used to? Yes we are, see Kendon (2014) https://t.co/mYF3atcoQt pic.twitter.com/U50aRTClxa— Mark McCarthy (@markpmcc) December 9, 2015
Additional reporting by The Associated Press