Worcestershire in for more bad weather as rivers peak

Although conditions are set to improve slightly, the county will remain somewhat damp for some time, with more wintry weather set to make an appearance.

Despite this, it is thought that rivers in the county will have peaked today.

Ian Michaelwaite, of Pershore-based netweather.tv, said rivers peaking didn’t mean an end to the bad weather, with winds of up to 50mph expected, along with yet more rain.

“The winds will stay quite high on Tuesday but not as bad as on Monday and it will be a lot drier,” he said.

“On Wednesday, the winds will calm down and it will start to feel colder.

“Wednesday night will be damp and miserable and the temperatures will turn a bit colder but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year.

 Click here for a picture gallery of the new year floods from across Worcestershire

“There could be some bright spells on Thursday, which will be welcome, but there is some risk of frost overnight into Friday. The wind chill is going to feel a bit cutting.”

He also said the rain was likely to mean river levels will remain high throughout the rest of the week.

“Wednesday could bring half an inch of rain and that’s something no one wants to see,” he said.

“The ground is going to have no chance to drain all the existing water so we could see some localised flooding and surface water.

“It’s not great but it’s better than we’ve been having. 

"We might actually get some wintery weather rather than the blustery, autumnal conditions we have had since November.”

Although homes and businesses in county have escaped floodwater thanks to defences set up following damage in previous years, as your Worcester News went to press, a number of flood warnings were still in place.

Environment Agency warnings remain in place for the river Severn for the Diglis area of Worcester, which is now expected to reach a peak of about 4.3 metres on Thursday, as well as for Upton, where the river was predicted to reach a level of five metres today.

Warnings were also in place for Wyre Piddle, near Pershore, Hanley Castle, near Upton, Kempsey and Callow End.

The organisation also issued a flood warning for the Avon at Strensham and Bredon, as well as between Evesham and Tewkesbury, along with the Bow and Piddle Brook.

Environment Agency officer Dave Throup tweeted that the peak of the Avon at Evesham was still one metre less than the flooding which occurred in November 2012.