UK weather: Alerts issued for snow, heavy rain and wind as Eustice defends Johnson over floods

Weather warnings for snow, wind and heavy rain have been issued for the beginning of the week.

The bleak outlook follows more than a fortnight of downpours and flooding that started with Storm Ciara, continued with Storm Dennis, and the weekend’s unnamed storm.

It comes as Environment Secretary George Eustice defended Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme following criticism by opposition MPs that he has failed to visit the worst flood-hit areas ravaged by the recent storms.

Snow falls are expected to cause problems across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England as the Environment Agency (EA) issued 91 flood warnings and 182 flood alerts by Monday morning.

Weather warnings for snow across Scotland, snow and rain across northern England and snow across Northern Ireland have been issued for Monday, with traffic disruption predicted for the morning commute.

The EA said ongoing flooding is possible for parts of the West Midlands, along the Severn and Wye and also in parts of the north of England, including in the lower River Aire in Yorkshire.

A weather warning is also in place for South Wales, one of the areas badly affected by recent flooding.

Met Office forecaster Marco Petagna said: “I’m afraid we hold onto unsettled weather conditions across the UK over the next few days. We will see spells of wet and windy weather at times and there’ll be some snow in the north at times too.

“Monday looks unsettled across all areas. We’ll see wet and windy weather sweeping from the southwest – gales or severe gale-force winds in place, and some snow towards the north of the UK.”

As those already hit by this winter’s deluges continue to clean up, Mr Eustice said the government can’t protect every home and admitted the problem is going to worsen.

He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge it is “inevitable that we’re going to get more of these extreme weather events”, as “with climate change” they are becoming “more frequent each year”.

“All we can really do is improve our flood defences and improve our flood response,” he said.

Mr Eustice also defended Mr Johnson for defying calls to visit flood-stricken areas despite a third consecutive weekend of storms.

“It’s not true that the prime minister hasn’t been engaged in this. From the very moment he appointed me, he has been engaged,” Mr Eustice told Ridge.

“In a cabinet government it’s not a one-man show, it’s right that on certain operational things such as this that the prime minister will ask one of his cabinet members to lead, I can’t see anything wrong with that,” he added.

England has already received over 141% of its average February rainfall so far.

Scotland saw further flooding on Saturday, with a number reports of vehicles becoming stranded in various towns and villages west of Glasgow.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency said three flood warnings were in force on Monday morning with four further flood alerts.

And, in Wales, there were nine flood warnings in force and 19 alerts.

While the extreme weather should settle down over Tuesday and Wednesday – accompanied with a notable dip in temperatures – the Met Office said further heavy rain is expected on Friday.

(c) Sky News 2020: UK weather: Alerts issued for snow, heavy rain and wind as Eustice defends Johnson over floods