A 17-year-old girl was killed when a car plunged into a swollen river as the first major storm of autumn lashed Britain and brought rush-hour chaos to Shropshire and Mid Wales.
The girl was a passenger in a 4×4 which overturned and plummeted into the river in the Llyn Briane Reservoir area near Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, at around 5.45pm yesterday.
She and two other people were airlifted to hospital to Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth, but the teenager - who was from the south east of England, died shortly after arrival.
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service alone fielded more than 100 calls as the downpours intensified yesterday afternoon.
A family of three had to be winched in their vehicle from floodwaters near Mid Wales Airport, Welshpool, early today and in Much Wenlock residents narrowly avoided severe problems by quickly putting up flood gates and laying sandbags when the Gaskell Arms corner of the town flooded and the waters spread into High Street.
A fire service spokeswoman said south Shropshire - particularly Ludlow - Much Wenlock, north Shropshire and Shrewsbury were particularly badly affected and crews were called out to pump out water, retrieve vehicles trapped in deep water or give advice to residents to contact their local councils for sandbags.
There was also traffic chaos during the evening rush-hour last night and a police spokeswoman said: “We had massive problems with flooding. We had a number of calls and a lot of roads are blocked.”
Shropshire Star weatherman John Warner said Shawbury had 38mm of rain over a 24-hour period but near Chester 63mm fell.
He added: “The worst of the weather was over north Devon, Wales and South West Midlands. Some places had a month’s rain in 24 hours.”
He forecast more rain for Shropshire and Mid Wales this evening and said another 25mm was likely.
The Environment Agency today had flood warnings in place for the River Vyrnwy at Melverley and Kinnerley last night and a flood watch remained in place for the Severn Vyrnwy Confluence and Shropshire’s River Severn.
The agency put up flood barriers at Frankwell in Shrewsbury and Bewdley Severnside North while barriers were sited at Upton and Hylton Road, Worcester.
Elsewhere across Britain, people were evacuated from their homes and rescued from their cars as the downpours struck. The promise of further deluges has raised the prospect of extensive flooding.
By Simon Hardy
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