Storm Jonas, which brought America’s East Coast to a standstill as it dumped up to 40 inches of snow, will hit the UK tomorrow, bringing heavy rain and powerful gales of up to 70mph.
The Environment Agency has issued flood alerts for 30 towns and cities and the Met Office sent out a yellow weather warning, telling residents to be aware, for Wales, Scotland and the North West of England. That means homeowners in Lancashire and Cumbria, which were among the worst.
Forecasters fear Britain could face more flooding as Storm Jonas heads towards Britain, with the Met office issuing a severe weather warning for north-west England, the west of Scotland and much of Wales.
An active cold front is expected to become slow-moving across Wales, north-west England and south and west Scotland through Tuesday, and into Wednesday, before clearing to the south on Wednesday afternoon.
Warm air of tropical origins is expected to be entrained into the system, leading to abundant moisture and heavy rain.
Many parts of the warning area could see 50-100 mm of rain, whilst the most exposed upland parts of north Wales, north-west England and south-west Scotland could see 150-200 mm.
As such, there is the potential for river flooding, and also standing water on roads. Strong and gusty south-west winds will also develop.
Jonas wreaked havoc in the US, with eleven states declaring a state of emergency. Some 85 million people, or one in four Americans, were affected by the storm, including at least 130,000 left without power.
NFU’s director of policy, Andrew Clark, said the organisation is still lobbying hard to get aid to flood stricken farmers from previous storms, who are now facing an immensely difficult clean-up operation, but with the news of oncoming Storm Jonas, this will be disheartening for many.
Mr Clark said: “The NFU welcomes a lot of the pragmatic decisions government agencies such as the Environment Agency and the RPA have taken to allow farmers to focus on the flood recovery operation. However, as part of a wider package of measures, the NFU is also asking for BPS part-payments to address cash flow issues, and lenient inspections by the RPA.
“We would also like to see the Government providing more resilient ways of managing flood risks that combine locally tailored solutions with an approach that can cope with more frequent and volatile weather.
“And we would also welcome an extension of the Farming Recovery Fund to support the recovery effort, which on some farms is well beyond the cost envisaged by the current Fund rules.”
