Elderly man dies after camper van submerged in floodwater in Walsall
Written by News on 28/05/2018
A man in his 80s has died after his vehicle became submerged in floodwater in Walsall, West Midlands.
Two ambulances, a paramedic and a hazardous area response team with a boat were sent to Lichfield Road, Rushall at around 2.20am.
Firefighters pulled the man out of his camper van and gave him CPR on the roof before he was transferred to an ambulance, station commander Wayne Little told Sky News.
There were two vehicles in the water, according to West Midlands Ambulance Service.
“The ambulance crew carried out advanced life support before taking the man to Walsall Manor Hospital, but sadly he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival,” it said a statement.
“A second person was found in the water but was unhurt. It is not believed that this person was from one of the vehicles. The second vehicle is believed to have been in situ for some time.”
West Midlands Fire Service is warning the public never to enter floodwater, no matter how shallow it may appear.
More than a month’s worth of rain deluged parts of Birmingham in just one hour on Sunday.
A site at Winterbourne, in the Edgbaston area, recorded 58mm (2.28 inches) of rainfall in one hour, and 81mm (3.1 inches) in a 12-hour period.
The monthly average for the West Midlands in May is 55mm (2.16 inches).
Alexander Walters posted a video on Twitter of three people pushing a car after a road was flooded in Birmingham, and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service said it had been “extremely busy” with flooding calls on Sunday evening.
“Due to the inclement weather @SWMFireControl have received over 900 calls with our crews attending over 100 incidents since 16:30hrs,” the fire service tweeted on Sunday.
Some 38 “be prepared” flood alerts remain in place, with four red “immediate action” flood warnings in the West Midlands and Staffordshire.
Families could face treacherous conditions as they return from the long weekend, with forecasters saying more thunder and torrential rain is possible.
“Although thunderstorms will be hit and miss across central and southern parts of the UK, they will still produce torrential downpours of rain, which could lead to localised flooding,” said Sky News weather presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar.
It comes after the UK was struck by lightning more than 60,000 times as the “mother of all thunderstorms” rolled across southern England on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
London Fire Brigade said it had received more than 500 weather-related calls as the warm and humid bank holiday weather broke down into an “utterly intense” storm.
A lightning strike on the aircraft fuelling system at Stansted left planes unable to refuel on Sunday morning, with more than 200 flights delayed, but the schedule appeared to be largely back to normal on Monday.
(c) Sky News 2018: Elderly man dies after camper van submerged in floodwater in Walsall
