New floods threat as 100mm rain heads our way today - Alerts for Aire and Calder

Parts of the county can except 50-100mm of water throughout Tuesday with Cumbria, which is still reeling from flooding around Christmas, facing up to two inches by the end of the day.

The Met Office, which has issued yellow “severe” warnings for Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, has warned communities to prepare for some flooding.

The Environment Agency has put flood alerts in place for the Rivers Aire and Calder, with the areas around Sowerby Bridge and Hebden Bridge at risk and an incident room set up in Leeds.

The Calder was one of the worst affected areas last month.

Levels on the Aire are forecast to peak later on this evening. The alert says: “The current forecast is not indicating that rivers will reach flood warning levels. We are however, expecting washlands in the Upper Aire Catchment to start to fill.”

On the Calder, “alert triggers” at Walsden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd are expectred to be reached from lunchtime onwards.

Weather warnings are in place across Wales, Scotland, Lancashire, Cumbria, Yorkshire and Devon and Cornwall, as the remnants of Storm Jonas, which blanketed much of the east coast of America in deep snow, sweep in from the Atlantic.

A Met Office spokeswoman said: “Further north, across Scotland and northern England, the remnants of the US storm are likely to cause severe gales - of up to 70 mph in Scotland - and bring 20-40mm of rainwater by Tuesday afternoon, with up to 60mm in exposed areas.

“In Wales, Yorkshire and south-west England, rain will reach around 30-50mm and up to 80-100mm in higher areas, mainly Wales. Locations along the Irish Sea coast can also expect some severe gales.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss has chaired an emergency meeting in order to co-ordinate the Government’s response to the expected rainfall, which could be as much as 100mm (3.9ins) in hilly areas.

Scores of flood alerts have been put in place and the Environment Agency (EA) said areas already affected by record river levels, including Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire, were likely to be at risk of flooding as heavy rain throughout Tuesday and into Wednesday could cause river levels to rise and drains to flood.

Ms Truss, who chaired a COBR committee last night, said the military were on standby and pumps had been deployed in order to deal with any flooding as she attempted to reassure “anxious” flood-hit communities.

Rain and south-westerly gales are expected to persist through Wednesday, and a further band of heavy rain is forecast for Friday, according to the Met Office, with yellow warnings already in place for parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, north-east England and Wales.

Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire were among the areas worst affected last month by Storm Desmond, which ruined thousands of homes and businesses and forced residents to leave flooded properties.