Corbyn calls for better flood management

LONDON: Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn called for better flood management ahead of a visit to deluged communities as police named a woman who died in floodwaters.

During a visit to Leeds on Saturday, Corbyn said better upstream river management and flood defences in towns were needed and called for more funding for emergency services.

“Obviously we need much better flood management and prevention schemes,” he said. “It also means properly funding our fire and rescue services and properly funding our Environment Agency to deal with this. “The Environment Agency has lost a fifth of its staff, the fire services have lost more than a fifth of their staff. They’re struggling to cope with this.”

The Labour leader said the UK could expect more extreme weather due to climate change.

Corbyn was due to visit flood-hit areas of South Yorkshire on Saturday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Matlock in Derbyshire on Friday.

During the visit, Johnson said the widespread flooding across the UK “is not looking like something we need to escalate to the level of a national emergency”.

Former High Sheriff of Derbyshire Annie Hall died after being caught in floodwater near Darley Dale. Police said her body was found after emergency services were called to the River Derwent near Matlock in the early hours of Friday.

Sheffield in South Yorkshire received 84mm of rain over 36 hours, which is almost the average monthly rainfall for Yorkshire, the Met Office said.

The flood-hit areas received respite on Saturday with dry and sunny conditions across eastern England.

Met Office meteorologist Sophie Yeomans said two yellow rain warnings are in place because of potentially difficult driving conditions.