Shropshire firefighters' floods rescue work praised

Retained crews from Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service have this week been battling to pump thousands of gallons of water away from a village in Lancashire.

Hundreds of homes have been evacuated and thousands are without power after Storm Frank battered the UK with heavy rain and high winds.

Residents in Scotland were the latest to endure the misery of being forced from their homes by foul weather as the third named storm in a month hit the country.

Further torrential rain also hit the saturated north of England, with people in Croston, Lancashire, urged to immediately evacuate their homes.

Firefighters from Shropshire returned home yesterday after teaming up with their counterparts from Hereford and Worcester, Lancashire and Cheshire in flood-hit Croston, near Southport, where a Chinook helicopter dropped one ton of sandbags to fill a gap in flood defences on the River Douglas.

Four firefighters from Prees, two from Shrewsbury and two from Baschurch joined the efforts earlier this week with the county's high-volume pumping unit.

Two firefighters from Clun, three from Craven Arms and three from Prees were also tasked to the scene at noon on Wednesday. Justin Johnston, deputy chief of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, praised them for their work.

As storms and floods continue to batter communities across northern parts of the UK, experts also revealed it had been the second wettest December in more than 100 years. Across the UK an average 211mm of rain fell during the month. Only December 1929 was wetter, with 213mm of rain.

Bosses at a bird display centre have been left heartbroken after yet more damage – this time caused by the severe weather.

The Owl and Falconry Centre at Shipley, near Bridgnorth, was raided twice in six weeks earlier in 2015, with birds of prey worth thousands of pounds stolen.

Now, in the latest incident, severe winds destroyed the centre's aviary which houses 70 birds – many of which are still missing.

Residents are now being urged to keep on the lookout for over a dozen birds, including Harris hawks and eagle owls.

Karl Law, who has been in charge at the centre since it opened its doors in 2012, said: "We came in on Wednesday morning and turned the horse box over as it had turned over in the night. We came down to the farm and watched the 100ft by 40ft aviary lift up in the air and fall over and smash into smithereens.

"The birds are all out loose and we have people looking for them. We have caught three so far. We had 70 birds of prey, we have lost 16 that we cannot find."

Elsewhere, part of a Victorian pier – the only one in Britain to lead to an island – collapsed into the sea amid high winds.

The walkway at Birnbeck Pier, in Weston-super-Mare, collapsed into the Bristol Channel.

But while it seems our region has escaped the worst of the weather, flood barriers remain up in Frankwell, Shrewsbury, with the Environment Agency prepared to put defences up in Ironbridge.

Flood alerts remain in place for the River Severn, the Severn Vyrnwy Confluence and the Upper Severn in Powys. RAF Shawbury recorded gusts of 54mph on Wednesday – the strongest in the Midlands.

And a New Year's Eve fireworks display in Shrewsbury was cancelled amid safety concerns due to high river levels on the River Severn. And a car became stuck in flood water at Walcot Ford in Pershore, Worcestershire, yesterday.

The Met Office said: "This means the temperatures this December 2015 were closer to those normally experienced during April or May."

2015 is on course for being one of the 10 wettest on record in the UK. The wettest year was 2000, when 1,337mm of rain fell across the country. Provisional figures for the year up to December 29 show 1,270mm of rain.

Storm Desmond was largely responsible for making December a record-breaking month, say the experts, with unprecedented amounts of rain falling on the Lake District. The Christmas period was described as "unsettled, wet and mild".

Hard on the heels of Storm Desmond, Storm Eva brought more gales and heavy rain to many northern areas on Christmas Eve, then Storm Frank moved in to cause more mayhem, with Scotland and Northern Ireland bearing the brunt.

Earlier this month a Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service boat crew was sent to Cumbria to help rescue people stranded in their homes as a result of Storm Desmond.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn became the latest figure to criticise the Environment Agency for its handling of the crisis, ahead of a visit to York yesterday. He planned to question officials about 10 "high volume pumps" the party claims the agency owns but has not deployed.

High winds caused several brief power cuts across the region on Wednesday. Homes in Nesscliffe and Wilcot were affected at about 1.20pm.

Meanwhile, a telegraph pole partially came down on the A456 in Burford, near Tenbury Wells, and a tree fell on to a garage in Shrewsbury.

In Scotland 12 people were rescued from a bus after it was stranded in flood water in Dailly, South Ayrshire, on Wednesday.