Several dead as Storm Bert wreaks havoc across Britain

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - LONDON — At least five people have died as Storm Bert swept across the United Kingdom, causing power outages and widespread train and flight cancelations.

Dramatic footage that emerged over the weekend showed rivers in Wales, one of the hardest hit areas, bursting their banks to submerge low-lying streets and vehicles parked outside.

Rescuers waded through hip-deep water to rescue pets with an inflatable raft, while residents teamed up to manually remove water with buckets.

Fatalities during the storm have been reported in multiple locations across Britain.

A man in his 60s died after a tree fell on a car in the south English city of Winchester on Saturday while another man, in his 40s, was killed in a crash in Northamptonshire, a central county, according to local police.

Further north, a 34-year-old man died in a single-vehicle collision in the early hours of Saturday, West Yorkshire Police said.

British news agency PA Media also reported that two other people were killed as the storm battered the UK over the past few days. That included a body found in the search for a dog walker who went missing in floodwater on Saturday, it reported, citing North Wales Police.

Another man in his 80s died after his car entered water at a ford in the northern county of Lancashire Saturday afternoon, PA Media reported, citing local police.

It was unclear whether all of these incidents were linked directly to the storm.

There have been 53 heavy rainfall reports across the UK, according to the European Severe Weather Database. Total rainfall in the last 24 hours reached over 130mm, the UK Meteorological Office (Met) reported, issuing multiple warnings against strong winds for central, southern and eastern parts of England, as well as Northern Ireland and western Scotland.

The storm is expected to clear from the far northeast early Tuesday, though risks of further downpours and strong winds remain across the south of the UK until Wednesday, the Met Office has warned.

Some 300 flights in and out of London Heathrow Airport were canceled over the weekend, with nearly 1,200 flights delayed.

Train services connecting London and Swansea in Wales, as well as from Exeter to Okehampton and Barnstaple in the southwestern part of the country, were among a raft of routes that were canceled, according to Great Western Railway.

Northern Rail reported “severe disruptions” for several services including in Lancaster, York and Sheffield in north of England.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks detected an unplanned spate of power outages in England and Scotland over the weekend, according to its website.

More than 60 flood warnings and alerts were reported in Wales alone for the past day, according to Natural Resources Wales.

“Thank you to the emergency services who are working tirelessly to protect communities — my thoughts are with those impacted,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote on X.

The cold front associated with Storm Bert will impact parts of western Europe, where orange warnings for high winds are in place for parts of Germany and France. — CNN