More than 300 flights were cancelled, and road closures included the M48 Severn Bridge in Gloucestershire, while a stretch of the A66 in North Yorkshire and Cumbria was closed to high-sided and vulnerable vehicles
Several people have been killed as Storm Bert battered the UK and a major incident has been declared in south Wales. At least five deaths have been reported in England and Wales since the storm hit. Strong winds have been accompanied by flooding caused by heavy rain and thawing snow.
Thousands of homes have been left without power and flights and train services have been delayed and cancelled because of the weather.
Keir Starmer thanked emergency services in a post on X and said he had spoken to the Welsh first minister, Eluned Morgan. “My thoughts are with those impacted,” the prime minister said. Morgan said it had been a “really difficult weekend” and that the flooding was “absolutely devastating” for those involved.
“It’s been a really difficult weekend and I’d like to thank the emergency services for all the support they’re giving to the people affected,” she said.
“I think this is the second time that many of those have suffered as a result of the storm. There’s been huge investments since the last storm hit, so we’ve managed to protect lots more properties than last time. But obviously this is absolutely devastating, just before Christmas for those people who have been impacted.”
A body was found in a search for 75-year-old Brian Perry on Sunday afternoon after he went missing in the River Conwy, north Wales a day earlier. Meanwhile, a man in his 60s died after a tree fell on a car on the A34 near Winchester, Hampshire police said.
A man in his 80s died in hospital after he was rescued from a car that had driven into a ford on Saturday afternoon. A woman in her 80s was also rescued from the car and taken to hospital. Her condition is not life-threatening, the force said. Two other fatal collisions happened while the storm took hold in England.
West Yorkshire police said a 34-year-old man died in a single-vehicle collision in the early hours of Saturday. It was unclear if the incident was related to Storm Bert but it is understood the road was not icy.
In Northamptonshire, a man in his 40s died in a crash on the A45 near Flore. It was not clear whether the incident was linked to the storm. In south Wales, Rhondda Cynon Taf county borough council declared an emergency as flood waters rose in towns across the region, including Pontypridd, Ebbw Vale and Aberdare.
The River Taff in Pontypridd topped its banks, flooding homes, while businesses in the town were forced to close. Residents resorted to bailing out their front yards with buckets, as firefighters attempted to pump the water from the street.
A Pontypridd council spokesperson said: “Throughout the evening the severity of the weather has resulted in widespread impact with over 100 properties potentially flooded, both commercial and residential.”
Chris Bryant, the Labour MP for Rhondda and Ogmore, said he had never seen the scale of flooding in the area. “The flooding across areas in the Rhondda and Ogmore is unprecedented,” he said.
Firefighters pumping water from Sion Street by the River Taff in Pontypridd, Wales. Storm Bert has brought 80% of November’s rainfall. As much as 64.4mm (2.53in) of rain fell in Capel Curig, north Wales, in 12 hours on Saturday and wind gusts of up to 82mph (132km/h) were recorded in the village.
Five adults and five children had to be rescued from a house in Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog in north Wales after a landslide, North Wales fire and rescue service said. More than 200 flood alerts are in place for England, Wales and Scotland overnight on Sunday. Two severe flood warnings, the most serious, are in place for parts of Monmouthshire, south-east Wales.
Yellow warnings for rain in south Wales were due to be lifted on Sunday. A yellow wind warning for part of Scotland is in place until 10am on Monday. Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said Storm Bert would leave the UK over the next 24 hours. “It is an unsettled picture out there,” he said. “Heavy rain across central, southern parts of England and Wales, even where we see some dry interludes, river levels continue to rise and we could see further flooding in places.”
Temperatures will then drop towards the middle of the week, he added. Travel disruption continued into Sunday and the ferry operator DFDS cancelled services on some routes until Monday, including its Newhaven to Dieppe sailings.
More than 300 flights from UK airports were cancelled during Storm Bert, aviation analytics firm Cirium said. Road closures on Sunday included the M48 Severn Bridge in Gloucestershire, while a stretch of the A66 in North Yorkshire and Cumbria was closed to high-sided and vulnerable vehicles.
Rail operators cancelled services on some routes all day on Saturday and urged passengers to check their routes before making journeys. Great Western Railway, which runs trains between London Paddington and south-west England told passengers not to travel on long-distance journeys on Sunday.
Avanti West Coast advised passengers to only travel if necessary on Sunday evening, with speed restrictions put in place on part of the west coast main line between Rugby and Milton Keynes due to rainfall and flooding. Greater Anglia, which operates trains from London Liverpool Street to Stansted airport, cancelled 52 services on Sunday afternoon after fallen trees damaged overhead power wires.
