UK weather: RAF helicopter and army engineers sent to help severely flooded regions

An RAF helicopter has been strengthening flood defences in South Yorkshire as forecasters warn of more rain over the coming days.

RAF Odiham posted photos of a Chinook dropping aggregate bags north of Doncaster after the River Don burst its banks last week.

Soldiers from 170 Engineer Group are also heading to Bentley, south of Fishlake, to help.

Around half of the 700 residents of Fishlake, north of Doncaster, have left the village which is under about 3ft (91cm) of water.

Doncaster Council has said it will not provide “ground support” for those residents remaining because the advice for them is to evacuate.

Council chief executive Damian Allen said fire crews were available to help anyone stuck in their home.

He said a rest centre has been set up in Stainforth and flood waters in Fishlake are not expected to recede for at least the next 24 hours.

Seven severe “danger to life” warnings remain in place along the River Don in South Yorkshire, according to the Environment Agency.

There are also 40 active flood warnings and 93 flood alerts.

More heavy rain is forecast on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, with a yellow Met Office warning in place for Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and the East Midlands.

It comes after parts of Derbyshire and South Yorkshire were deluged by a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours.

One woman died when she was swept away by the River Derwent in Darley Dale. Annie Hall was the former high sheriff of Derbyshire. Her body was pulled from the water on Friday.

In Worksop, about 20 miles south of Fishlake, a woman has described how she and her family were left homeless after the floods destroyed their house.

Robyn Conley, 18, lives with her mother and disabled siblings.

“The damp could affect my sister massively,” she said.

“We thought she was going to have a seizure (on Friday night). She kind of knows when she’s going to have one… she knows the signs.”

She added: “We had to get on the boat and go to the chemist. They told us that they had no medication for my sister, which was scary for us.”

The family are staying with a relative and expect to be in a hotel on Tuesday – but still need to find a place to stay long term.

“One day it’s perfect,” said Ms Conley. “Everything’s absolutely fine. The next day we’ve lost our house.”

The band of rain heading for the UK from the Atlantic is expected to reach Northern Ireland, before hitting Wales and northwest England overnight on Sunday.

The rain will continue to spread eastwards across the country through Monday.

Some parts of the country could even get some snow later in the week.

Areas around Llangollen in North Wales got a covering on Saturday, with the coldest night of the season so far, -7.1C (19.2F) recorded in Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands.

(c) Sky News 2019: UK weather: RAF helicopter and army engineers sent to help severely flooded regions