England: West Midlands region floods amid heavy rain, high winds

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This audio file was created from the text revision dated June 17, 2023 and may not reflect subsequent text edits to this report. (audio help)

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Saturday, June 17, 2023

Flooding in Rugeley, Staffordshire in 2020.
Image: Ash Thawley.

On Monday, storms caused flooding in the West Midlands region of England. The Met Office placed the region under an "amber" weather warning, with forecasts including high winds between Rugeley, Staffordshire and Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

A row of flats flooded in Wolverhampton; a resident told the BBC water entered through "people's windows, doors, through the brickwork". Resident Chris Hopkins explained his family returned home "in August" after flooding and another said tenants "can't live in this situation [of persistent flooding]". The city's Penn Road also flooded, with one observer stating to the Express & Star: "I've never seen Penn Road like this, it's like a river".

Two of the M5 motorway's three northbound lanes between junctions J2 Quinton/Halesowen and J3 Oldbury flooded, producing a mile-long traffic jam; earlier, a tree had briefly obstructed J2. Also in Oldbury, Wolverhampton Road flooded.

Another tree shut down Sedgley's Wolverhampton Road East.

Railway lines between Langley Green and Stourbridge ran "at reduced speed" after flooding on the route, West Midlands Railway tweeted.

By yesterday, the Met Office had issued a "yellow" thunderstorm warning for Sunday in most of England and all of Wales. It said "sudden flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and possible road closures" and "[f]looding of homes and businesses could happen quickly".

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Sources

"Yellow warning" — Met Office, June 17, 2023
"Fresh warning of storms and flooding" — BBC, June 16, 2023
Rebecca Wood. "Action urged in Wolverhampton as flooding once more blights flats" — BBC, June 13, 2023
Adam Smith. "Fallen trees and flooding causing travel chaos across the Black Country" — Express & Star, June 13, 2023
West Midlands Railway. "Problems reported" — Twitter, June 12, 2023
"Trees fall and roads flood as storm sweeps West Midlands" — BBC, June 12, 2023

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