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World
LEFTERIS PITARAKIS (AP)
impulse
Flooding in England has forced some to develop creative means of transportation.
Britain Plagued By Wet Weather Record-breaking rains have caused massive flooding London Soggy Britain is being soaked again. The River Thames has burst its banks, rail lines have been washed away, villages have been turned into islands and soldiers are out on the front lines filling sandbags. As residents battled to save their homes, yet another storm hit the U.K. on Wednesday, pummeling the west coast with torrential rain and wind gusts up to 106 mph. Here’s a look at the nation’s exceptionally wet and wild weather. What caused the floods?
Rain, rain and more rain. England has had its wettest January since records began almost 250 years ago.
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How bad is it?
About 5,800 properties have flooded since December along England’s southwest coast, the low-lying Somerset Levels and the Thames Valley west of London. On the Levels, some villages are accessible only by boat or emergency vehicles. Is London threatened?
The river is not expected to burst its banks in the city center. The part of the Thames that runs through London toward the sea is protected by the Thames Barrier, a series of 66-foot-high metal gates across the entire river that can be closed to stop the tide from coming up. When will it all end?
It’s not clear yet. The Met Office says at least one more storm is due this week. The Environment Agency has warned some communities to expect more flooding. In the long run, some areas may have to be abandoned to the water. JILL L AWLESS (AP)
Hearsay
“We cannot just continue to say ‘never again.’ … We must act concertedly
and now to avoid continued atrocities on a massive scale.”
— U.N. SECRE TA RY GENER A L BA N K I-MOON, DESCRIBING THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, WHERE THE EXODUS OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF MUSLIMS AMOUNTS TO “ETHNIC CLEANSING,” ANOTHER U.N. OFFICIAL SAID
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