Photos reveal flooding chaos across Shropshire as Storm Babet hits county
Heavy downpours of rain as a result of Storm Babet caused chaos across Shropshire on Friday.
Roads were closed, warnings were issued and live performances cancelled as the county saw a month's worth of rain in just 24 hours.
A man in his 60s tragically died after getting caught in fast-flowing flood water that breached a brook just outside of Cleobury Mortimer.
West Midlands Ambulance Service was called to the incident at 10.42am, and sent one ambulance, two paramedic officers, the Trust’s Hazardous Area Response Team and the Midlands Air Ambulance from Strensham to the scene.
Dale End in Coalbrookdale was several feet under water from around 9am this morning with heavy rain understood to have resulted in the nearby brook bursting its banks.
Photos taken by the Shropshire Star revealed the situation that local residents were facing:
Meanwhile, the M54 at Telford was closed because of the torrential rain and emergency services experienced an increase in 999 calls relating to flooding.
Craig Jackson of Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said that the service had received more than 200 calls in the space of two hours.
Flooding on the line between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton saw services cancelled with Network Rail reporting that the line was blocked and they expected cancellations until around 1pm.
And commuters waiting for trains between Telford and Wolverhampton also faced a number of cancellations.
The Trainline website is still showing that services from Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton remain cancelled as of 6.30pm on Friday evening. These include trains to Shrewsbury, Manchester Piccadilly, Chester and Aberystwyth.
The middle of Pontesbury was turned into a lake during this morning's deluge, and a long line of traffic found itself stuck in Minsterley Road with no idea when they could carry on their journeys.
Thirteen flood warnings were in place for Shropshire as of Friday evening, including the River Severn at Frankwell, the River Severn at Bewdley and Wesley Brook at Shifnal.
The updated flood warning at Frankwell, Shrewsbury read: "Flooding is possible in this area.
"Monitor local water levels and weather conditions. Avoid using low lying footpaths or entering areas prone to flooding. Start acting on your flood plan if you have one.
"As the Frankwell barriers have been deployed and are fully operational, we are currently not expecting protected properties in this area to be impacted.
"Environment Agency Flood Warning Officers set the river or tidal levels that have triggered this message. During industrial action this message has been automatically issued based on rising river or tidal levels."
