July 27, 2007	Friday	Rajab 11, 1428

HENLEY-ON-THAMES (England): More rains were forecast on Thursday for flood-hit areas as meteorologists said the three months from May to July were the wettest for England and Wales since records began in 1766.

The heavy rains came in two waves, one on June 24 and 25, that flooded much of northern and central England, killing four people, and another on July 20 that submerged large swathes of western and south-central England.

The second wave produced the worst flooding in 60 years, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without tap water, cutting electricity to tens of thousands of homes, and spreading chaos on both roads and railways.

The figures released by the weather forecasting agency, the Met Office, showed that 387.6 millimetres of rain has fallen across England and Wales, the most since records were first kept in 1766.

Even with the month not yet over, the total rainfall amount is already 208 per cent higher than the May-to-June average, it added.

And meteorologists forecast more rain as health officials worried about the threat posed by sewage-tainted floodwaters, even in areas where they are receding.

The worst of the day’s rain is due to fall in parts of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset, which is well south of the flood zones.

But flood-hit communities in Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire were also threatened with heavy rains, with some parts of the southern Cotswolds facing up to 20 millimetres, Met Office forecaster Nigel Bolton said.

“This particular spell of rain should go through relatively quickly for most places,” he added.

The London commuter town of Reading, the royal castle city of Windsor and Henley, famous for its annual rowing regatta, were among other places threatened as river levels were expected to peak in the next 48 hours.

Skies were cloudy in Henley, with the swollen and fast flowing river lapping the terraces of riverside pubs, even if it has not spilled onto roads.—AFP