HEAVY rain has caused high river levels in Worcestershire but environment chiefs have opted not to put flood barriers up.

THE Environment Agency (EA) held a conference at 11am yesterday to decide if the barriers would go up in Upton-on-Severn but at 11.40am announced the barriers would stay down.

A spokesman said: “The Upton barriers are not going up. It was a very close call. We did start to prepare in case but we are keen to avoid any disruption.

"We don’t put flood defences up unless we have to.”

The river Severn was on flood alert yesterday but there were no flood warnings as of yesterday afternoon.

An EA spokesman said the situation would be monitored closely over the next 24 hours.

There were reports of more localised flooding in Upton yesterday.

New Street Lane was blocked both ways due to flooding at Hanley Road.

Worcester News weatherman Paul Damari said the high river levels had been caused by rain in north and central Wales but there had not been heavy rain in Worcestershire.

He said: “I’m not forecasting any rain during the next three to four days.

"Any rain is going to be quite patchy with some dry spells as well.

Mr Damari said the dry weather would allow the river Severn to peak within the next few days without causing major flooding problems and said he was not predicting heavy rain in parts of Wales at the same time as Worcestershire, which would need to happen to produce a flood risk.

He said: “There should be no serious flooding in the area. Most of the heavy rain is falling across the northwest of the UK.

"We’re coming to the end of the winter now.”

He said the winds in March would help dry out the ground so it could absorb more water, which would reduce the risk of flooding, and that river levels had been low this winter which further reduced the risk.