Storm Bert Departs, Leaves UK Destruction Behind

Damage in England after severe flooding from Storm 
Bert. Photo from Northampton Chronicle.

One of the two "bomb cyclones" I mentioned in an entry I posted here this past Saturday was Storm Bert in the UK, that I said was a dangerous storm.  

You bet it was. 

Storm Bert focused much of its fury on central England and Wales, where several communities were inundated by flood waters. Five deaths have been reported with this storm.  

A flood wall collapsed in TenburyWells (see videos below) sending a surge of water through town. 

Later,  a 57 year old man proved that weather-related stupidity is not just a creature of the United States. This idiot blasted through the flooded town on a large farm tractor through floodwaters, causing a huge wake and waves that damaged shops far beyond just what the existing flooding would have done. 

The man was later arrested. 

Storm Bert flooded a large mobile home park, affecting 114 families. It was the third time the neighborhood had been flooded within a year.

Parts of Wales also suffered debris flows from what are known as coal tips. Those are big piles of waste material from coal mining. These piles have sat largely abandoned after the coal industry collapsed decades ago. 

Some of the flooding extended into Northern Ireland, where some towns were flooded over the weekend. 

Flood warnings remain in effect in parts of England and Wales. New rains are due in the coming several days, but they are not forecast to be as intense as those that hit with Storm Bert.

 Video shows the moment when flood defenses failed and a gush of  floodwater surged through the small town of Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that:

Video of people bailing water, being evacuated and a dog being rescued as water rises in a Welsh town after Storm Bert. Again, click on this link or if you see the image below, click on that:

And here's the idiot I mentioned above who blundered through a flooded town with a tractor, causing a lot of added damage. The driver has since been arrested.  Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that: