Floody hell!!

mc_squared · July 23, 2007

Race to rescue flood victims running out of food and drinking water

Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink!

by DAVID DERBYSHIRE - More by this author » Last updated at 08:29am on 23rd July 2007 Comments (7)

Thousands of flood victims were trapped in their homes and running out of fresh water and food.

Emergency services battled to help them in scenes that could have come from a third world disaster.

Fears that mains water supplies could be cut for up to three days in some areas sparked panic-buying of bottled water

Soldiers and firemen delivered food parcels and set up soup kitchens in towns cut off by some of the worst flooding in 50 years.

Huge swathes of central England became seas of muddy water after torrential rainfall.

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Surrounded by a sea of floodwater, a church in Tirley, Gloucestershire. The area suffered a further blow yesterday when 350,000 people were told there would be no tap water because a treatment plant has been contaminated

The RAF and coastguards were drafted in to lift hundreds of people to safety in one of the biggest peacetime rescue operations.

Some 350,000 people in the Tewkesbury, Gloucester and Cheltenham area were warned that their water supplies would be cut after a treatment plant was flooded.

Around 600 of water tankers are being sent in, with military help.

Emergency services were also battling to stop floodwater reaching a major electricity substation on the outskirts of Gloucester which supplies 500,000 people.

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Flood of tears: A sobbing baby is carried to safety in Evesham

Up to 40 elderly residents were also evacuated from a care home in Herefordshire. Victims were being taken from the flooded residential home, situated in Fownhope Road in Hampton Bishop, to a nearby school for shelter.

A fire service spokeswoman said she was unsure of the name of the home, adding that the army were using high wheel-based trucks to transport the residents to safety.

There were fears of further misery ahead, as rivers swelled to within inches of bursting their banks. A total of 61 flood warnings - 26 severe - were in place.

As the scale of the damage emerged, anger mounted at the way flood defences failed - or were never put in place - despite several days' warning of severe weather and the experience of last month's floods.

There was also growing frustration at the way developers have been allowed to build in flood plains, putting families at risk of heartbreaking deluges.

A Government blueprint for millions of new homes will today say it is "unrealistic" to stop building on floodplains.

The Green Paper being published by housing minister Yvette Cooper will commit the Government to three million new homes by 2010 - many of them in the already crowded South-East of England.

And as part of an £8 billion drive to construct 70,000 extra affordable homes each year for the next three years, local authorities will be given the green light to start building council houses again.

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Cut off: Tewkesbury Cathedral and surrounding homes stand isolated by the flood water

A Whitehall leak inquiry was launched last night after the BBC and Financial Times each claimed to have copies of the Green Paper, which was being kept tightly under wraps by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

According to the BBC, Ms Cooper will announce a significant increase in shared ownership houses and shared equity schemes to help young would-be home-owners get their foot on the property ladder.

But the most controversial aspect of the paper is expected to be the admission that it is unrealistic to bar development on flood plains.

The paper will argue that 10 per cent of England's existing housing stock is on flood plains, and say that it is for councils to ensure they use proper planning procedures to minimise the risk involved, reported the BBC.

And there were fears that insurance premiums could rise to meet the estimated £2billion cost of this year's floods.

Many of the tens of thousands of flood victims have lost priceless possessions and will be homeless for months. Some could be away for more than a year.

Miraculously, there have been few injuries. So far, just one person has died - a 64-year-old man in a flooded cellar in Cumbria.

The clean-up bill is expected to run into hundreds of millions. On top of damage to homes and businesses, hundreds of farms have been flooded, destroying crops and killing livestock.

Friday's first wave of flooding was caused by drains becoming overwhelmed by torrential rain.

Yesterday it was rivers - such as the Severn, Avon and Thames - bursting their banks.

Last night Oxford and Gloucester were on red alert. In Gloucester, 200 people were evacuated amid predictions that the Severn will overflow and repeat the severe flooding of 1947.

Tewkesbury was completely cut off. Feeding stations offered soup and sandwiches to stranded locals and 20 patients were evacuated from the town's hospital.

In Evesham, more than 30 guests and staff were trapped in the Northwick Hotel and children spent a third night at their special needs school.

Making the most of it: Two girls splash out in Tewkesbury

Food supplies were also sent to Upton-on-Severn, where 26 people spent the night in a temporary shelter.

The town's portable flood defences had been stuck in a traffic jam on the M5 when the water began pouring in.

The warning that mains water supplies could be cut for up to three days sparked panic-buying of bottled water.

Gloucester police were called to a stampede at Asda while supplies quickly ran out at Sainsbury's in Cheltenham and Morrison's in Tewkesbury.

Worried families filled baths, kettlessaucepans and buckets, despite a plea from Severn Trent Water not to stockpile water.

Sutton and East Surrey Water told another 80,000 households to boil water before drinking it after untreated water contaminated the mains supply.

Armed forces, lifeboat crews and even the RSPCA joined the rescue operation. RSPCA officers helped 16 people and four dogs to safety in Lower Appeley, Gloucestershire.

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Drivers braving the Worcester ring road

A spokesman said there were growing fears for trapped farm animals. "My big concern is for animals in intensive units," he said. "If they're not getting water, they will be dead in 48 hours."

Critics accused the Government and local authorities of doing too little to protect homes.

Last year the Government cut the Environment Agency's flood defence budget by £15million.

Although it has since announced a rise in spending from £600million to £800million, the extra cash will not be available until 2010.

As Cobra - the Government's emergency planning committee - met to assess the response, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn brushed off suggestions that the armed forces were too stretched overseas to deal with a domestic emergency. He insisted that military help was available to councils and emergency services.

Mr Benn said: "That is why I asked the question yesterday, 'Have you got the resources that you need?' So far, the answer I have been given is 'Yes we have and we are doing our best to cope with the difficult circumstances'."

The Environment Agency, under fire from MPs earlier this year for its inadequate flood defences, called for more cash.

Chief executive Baroness Young, a Labour peer, said £1billion a year was needed.

She admitted: "It will take some time to get flood defences in place and it won't completely remove the risk of flooding."

Tory leader David Cameron, visiting flood victims in his Witney constituency, said defences had been "sorely lacking".

No food: Cheltenham Sainsbury's

"We have to ask why the flood defence budget was cut last year," he said. "People want answers."

LibDem spokesman Chris Huhne said: "The Government has been far too slow to wake up to the potentially devastating effects of extreme rainfall overwhelming drains and sewers."

The bill for insurance companies from the latest floods is expected to run into hundreds of millions.

The Association of British Insurers said flood claims for 2007 were already around £2billion. As one in four homes is uninsured, total losses will be higher still. There are fears that premiums will rise as a result of the disaster.

Disruption caused by the freak weather continued all day on the railways and roads.

Families trapped by the floods were forced to shelter wherever they could.

Nursery assistant Debbie Goddard, 34, her husband and three children, spent the night in Morrison's in Tewkesbury, where they had stopped for petrol on their way home to Leicester after a caravan holiday in Cornwall.

Mrs Goddard said: "This is surreal - it's something you'd expect in a third world country."

Store manager Elliott Luce said more than 50 people, including a four-week- old baby, had been trapped in the store.

He said: "There was a lot of anxiety as the water kept rising. We rescued an elderly man from his car and wrapped him in foil from the bakery to keep him warm."

Another 40 people, including 15 children, slept in the bar of Ye Olde Black Bear, one of the country's oldest pubs which celebrates its 700th birthday next year.

Landlord Paul Wallis said: "People did their best but a lot of them were fed up and worried about their homes and families.

"My bosses at the brewery told me to give away food to anyone who needs it, police, firemen, the RNLI and general public.

"I've been in the kitchen and my wife's been flat-out at the bar ever since this started."

busybeeburns · July 23, 2007

:o

Black Rose · July 23, 2007

What's wrong with the other flood thread?

mc_squared · July 23, 2007

What's wrong with the other flood thread?

This one has a more eye-catching title.:rolleyes:

heartswarm · July 24, 2007

so this is where all our rainwater had gone! :shocked2:

july is supposed to be the start of the rainy (typhoon) season here, but so far it's still very very dry.

mc_squared · July 24, 2007

so this is where all our rainwater had gone! :shocked2:

july is supposed to be the start of the rainy (typhoon) season here, but so far it's still very very dry.

Well you're very welcome to have some of the water back. Please go and collect it immediately!:rolleyes:

mc_squared · July 24, 2007

The truth about monsoon Britain... and no it's not what you think

By MICHAEL HANLON - More by this author » Last updated at 00:38am on 24th July 2007 Comments (7)

Living in weather-obsessed Britain, anything as extraordinary as this weekend's biblical floods has us all reaching for the dictionary of superlatives, scrabbling around for someone - or something - to blame and rushing to make knee-jerk reactions usually involving the dreaded global warming.

With much of Central England resembling the Lake District - a muddy, effluent-tainted Lake District without the attraction of surrounding mountains - and with towns like Tewkesbury turned into islands, it certainly seems that something quite out of the ordinary is going on.

Isolated: Tewkesbury Abbey surrounded by flood water

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On Friday afternoon, in some places, more than four inches of rain fell - the sort of deluge normally associated with tropical monsoons.

The rivers Severn, Thames and Avon are at historically high levels, and in many places thousands of people have had to be evacuated as the waters rose.

So, what is going on? Are these floods really unprecedented? And, if so, can we blame global warming?

Finally, does the fact that so many people have been flooded out of their homes have more to do with bad planning and the lack of a coherent housing policy than with climate change?

First, these floods are definitely not unprecedented. Britain has enjoyed a recent run of quite hot, dry summers and when it comes to the weather, memories are notoriously short.

We have simply forgotten that relatively heavy rainfall in midsummer is the norm - not the exception - in our windy Atlantic archipelago.

The records of rainfall in Britain contain numerous instances of more rain falling in a single day than would be expected in an entire month. On May 29, 1912, nearly five inches of rain fell in three hours near the town of Louth in Lincolnshire. The flood-water practically razed the town and killed 22 people.

Even more spectacular was the deluge that occurred three months later in Norfolk: Brundall, near Norwich, experienced more than eight inches of rain on one hellish August day - roughly double the total measured anywhere in the recent floods.

Much of Norfolk was still under water six months later.

And on August 15 that year, a depression moving up the Bristol Channel deposited nine inches of rain over Exmoor, spawning the lethal flood that was nearly to wash away the village of Lynmouth.

More than 30 people were killed.

The record for rainfall in one 24-hour period occurred on July 18, 1955, when nearly 12 inches of rain fell on parts of Dorset.

So there is certainly nothing unprecedented about these floods, and similar deluges occurred long before we worried about global warming.

But even so, this weekend's storms were exceptionally severe.

And it is true that climatologists have been warning about the increasing probability of severe weather as climate change takes hold.

Naturally, the shriller doommongers have been quick to seize on these events as proof that global warming is here.

The Independent newspaper claimed that a research paper will be published in Nature this week linking this weekend's flooding with climate change.

In fact, the research paper does no such thing.

One of the authors, Met Office climatologist Peter Stott, stressed that the paper was looking at global annual rainfall changes, not seasonal local events like this week's rains.

"This paper does not address the issue of whether summer rainfall is changing," he told me. "What has been happening this weekend is not dealt with in the paper."

Dr Stott fully accepts the climate change consensus - that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are largely responsible for rising global temperatures.

However, like nearly all weather experts, he is loath to ascribe a particular weather event to a change in climate.

Climate is weather averaged over a long period, and one weekend of flooding is far too short an amount of time from which to draw any conclusions.

Most recent climate change models actually predict that Britain should experience drier, hotter summers and wetter winters - a trend that we have indeed seen in the past few years.

Most climate experts agree that if we, in Britain, have seen concrete evidence of climate change to date, it was in the spectacular heatwave of 2003 which really was unprecedented.

None of this, of course, is of any help to the thousands of unfortunate souls who face weeks in B&Bs while their insurance companies rebuild their houses.

Climate change or not, Britain's planners and housebuilders need to have a big rethink when it comes to where and what to build.

Britain, we are told, needs three million new homes by 2020, to house a growing population, mostly fuelled by immigration.

Most of these people will want to live in the already crowded south- east of the country, which is not only where most of the jobs are but also, unhappily, an area of low-lying land and large, already over-developed flood-plains.

During the building boom in the 1980s, developers were often granted blanket planning permission, taking little account of flood risk.

Much of the misery on our TV screens in the past few days has centred around the distinctive box-like properties built during this time.

In the past six years or so, the rules of construction have been tightened and it is now much harder to build on land which is expected to flood regularly.

But these rules look like they will be relaxed once more, as a leaked Government Green Paper suggests ministers will press for three million new homes to be built in the next 13 years, with much of this building boom to take place on Britain's flood plains.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper insisted that building on flood plains was unavoidable, saying that if proper flood defences were in place such developments would be "safe".

Let's hope so.

It is not well understood that even building on higher ground has a knockon effect if managed badly.

Over-development on high ground can increase water runoff to the extent that areas downstream, not previously at risk from flooding, are in danger.

Using solid concrete foundations rather than hollow ventilation spaces beneath new homes would minimise flood damage, as would routing electrics from top to bottom of houses rather than the other way round, thus leaving most of the essential wiring above water level.

Britain's drainage network is in a terrible state. For years - particularly during those heatwaves - attention was focused on leaky pipes; now the drains are coming in for scrutiny.

Finally, as we rush to build, it is worth asking how much of the current "housing crisis" is real, and how much is an artifice created by the market and by greedy developers.

Thousands of homes, even in London, remain empty, earning far more in rising capital value than they could in rents. Developers are sitting on tens of thousands of acres of land, with planning permission granted, but not building - preferring to see its value simply rise.

In addition, much of the North and West of the country is still relatively unpopulated.

In a few weeks, the floods will probably be history (see how quickly we have forgotten the recent droughts).

But that doesn't mean the problem will have disappeared.

Yes, we should worry about climate change, and even make future building projects "climatechange proof" (the new buzz phrase). We need to build better and choose where we build more carefully.

Yvette Cooper said that we should not use the floods to "whip up hostility to new housing".

Fair enough, but unless this new housing is built very carefully indeed, in a few years' time there will be thousands of very hostile, very soggy voters around as soon as the heavens open.

burningmonk · July 24, 2007

I live in Tewkesbury! :(

mc_squared · July 24, 2007

I live in Tewkesbury! :(

Not Cairo??:confused:

burningmonk · July 24, 2007

Well yes, but when I'm in the UK I'm in Tewkesbury. I was born up the road in Cheltenham.

Luckily, our house there is on a slight hill so it wasnt that badly affected.

I'm glad I didn't go this summer! :lol:

mc_squared · July 24, 2007

Well yes, but when I'm in the UK I'm in Tewkesbury. I was born up the road in Cheltenham.

Luckily, our house there is on a slight hill so it wasnt that badly affected.

I'm glad I didn't go this summer! :lol:

Have you heard of Longney? I have a cousin who lives there.

Black Rose · July 24, 2007

Cue the typical global warning tosh, England has had worst floods

1607, 1872, 1875, 1891, 1894, 1912, 1947, 1953, 2003...

I'm sure the 1607 floods were caused by people driving around in their range rovers.

mc_squared · July 25, 2007

Now victims of deluge are warned of virus danger

Hundreds evacuated around Oxford as Thames rises

Last updated at 12:58pm on 25th July 2007 Comments (12)

Fears are growing growing today that contaminated floodwater could lead to a major outbreak of disease.

Health bosses say hundreds of thousands of flood victims now face an increased risk from bugs in contaminated water.

They claim that the failure of sewage plants could lead to the spread of microorganisms such as the noroviruses, which cause gastroenteritis and winter vomiting disease.

Health Protection Agency officials today advised people living in affected areas to prevent their children from playing in the floodwater, to wear protective clothing and to take special precautions when preparing infant formula milk.

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In the front line: residents of Oxford contend with the flooding as they are warned that the Thames will continue to rise and electricity may be cut off

Up on blocks: this car's owner drove it onto sandbags to escape the rising waters

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The water may have been contaminated with sewage, animal waste and other potential toxins, the agency said. Tony Thompson, head of emergency response for the Red Cross, said: "If you even handle floodwater you should disinfect yourself. It should be treated as potentially poisonous."

Dr Peter Wyn-Jones, a microbiologist at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, said: "Under flood conditions we have a large mixing bowl. The flooded rivers compromise sewage treatment plants and the sewage will not be treated properly. It will just be mixing with the flooded river water."

The warnings come as more than 800 homes in Oxfordshire were being evacuated today after the Thames burst its banks, flooding streets in Oxford itself and surrounding areas.

In stark contrast to scenes here in the UK, Greece and much of south-east Europe is braced for the hottest day of the year with temperatures expected to top 46 degrees in some places.

The heatwave sweeping Europe has already claimed hundreds of lives over the past two weeks.

Bottled water rolls into the flood-hit towns

Life saver: a shopper in Gloucester stocks up with bottled water

Fire chiefs warned that thousands more homes could have their power cut as an electricity substation in the area was at risk of being flooded. Fears were growing that rising water levels could overwhelm the city's major flood defences.

The Thames was expected to peak at Osney in central Oxford early this afternoon. About 250 residents were evacuated just before midnight last night from homes in the low-lying Osney Island and Botley Road areas of the city.

Some 35 people sought shelter at Oxford United's Kassam Stadium, where 70 other residents had bedded down after earlier flooding.

"Our teams are working around the clock to manage the situation - deploying pumps to reduce the impact of the flooding," said a spokeswoman from the Environment Agency.

"We have also provided the fire service and local authorities with additional sandbags."

Eddie Murphy, of Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue, said the Osney Mead substation, which supplies power to the majority of Oxford city centre, could be breached by rising floodwaters but he reassured people that plans were in place to maintain electricity supplies to "essential users" such as the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Missing: Student Mitchell Taylor

In Gloucestershire, floodwater has finally receded along the Severn, with water levels falling by more than six inches in Tewkesbury.

Severn Trent Water said that 140,000 properties across Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and Gloucester had been left without drinking water after a local treatment centre flooded.

Their 340,000 residents face up to two weeks without access to clean water, raising further concerns about hygiene and sanitation.

The human cost of the floods also became apparent yesterday as it emerged that a mother lost her twins born prematurely in a house cut off by the rising water.

Further victims include a middle-aged man drowned in a swollen river and a missing teenager who is feared to have been swept away.

The dramatic rescue of the criticallyill babies began when the mother, who was only 21 weeks pregnant, dialled 999 after going into labour while staying with friends in Tewkesbury.

An ambulance was immediately dispatched but roads into the Gloucestershire town were under water and two RAF Sea King helicopters were scrambled.

The babies were born before the paramedic on board could reach the scene. The mother and her twins were winched aboard separate aircraft.

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Welcome to Tewkesbury: Cars become swamped by the flood waters

RAF to the rescue: A Sea King helicopter hovers above flooded homes in Tewkesbury

They were all flown to Cheltenham General Hospital, where the babies were pronounced dead. The chances of survival at 21 weeks - when they could still be legally aborted - are extremely small.

The drama unfolded at a semidetached house near the town centre at dawn on Saturday. Neighbours said the mother was visiting a friend and had decided to stay the night when she started having contractions.

Police said: 'The mother and babies were taken to Cheltenham General Hospital, faster than an ambulance would have been able to do in normal circumstances, and everything possible was done to help them.'

A spokesman for the emergency services involved in flood rescues - including fire, ambulance and police forces - said it was impossible to tell what triggered the birth.

'The house wasn't flooded. She wasn't wading through water.'

The premature baby charity Bliss said the woman might have gone into labour because she was worried about rising floodwater.

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Two girls paddle through water in Upton Upon Severn, Worcestershire

Elsewhere in the town, police were searching for 19-year-old student Mitchell Taylor, who recently completed a diploma in performing arts. He was last seen in the early hours of Saturday, at the height of the floods, leaving a club in the centre of Tewkesbury.

In Bedford, a middle-aged man drowned at lunchtime yesterday after leaping into the swollen, muddy River Ouse and attempting to swim across it.

The financial cost of the floods could top £5.5billion. As insurers said they were preparing to pay out £2.5billion, economists predicted that businesses could suffer another £3billion in lost sales and production.

Around 350,000 people woke up this morning to another day without running water. There were warnings of a humanitarian crisis as emergency services battled to get supplies through to beleaguered, flood-stricken communities.

Although flood waters are receding in the worst hit parts of the Severn Valley, the surge from last Friday's storms is continuing to spread its misery down the Thames. Hundreds of people in Windsor, Slough, Reading and other parts of Berkshire were last night preparing to move possessions to safety as the rising river threatened to swamp their homes.

The Queen sent a message of support to those affected by the floods, saying she was 'shocked and deeply concerned' by the devastation. She also praised the work of emergency soldiers, volunteers and military.

With heavy downpours predicted for tomorrow and the weekend, more chaos could be on the way. Last night six severe flood warnings were still in place.

According to the Government, 10,000 homes have been swamped or are at risk of being flooded in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Hereford, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Bedfordshire.

In Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and Gloucester 140,000 homes are likely to be without mains water for two weeks. The Mythe water treatment works near Tewkesbury was shut on Sunday after it was swamped.

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A father empties his daughter's wellies in Abingdon Road, Oxford

Around 900 tankers were today due to arrive in Gloucester. Soldiers are handing out three million bottles each day from Cheltenham racecourse. Peter Bungard, the chief executive of Gloucester County Council, said: 'I'm really, really worried - 350,000 people is hard to imagine and amongst those are very vulnerable people.'

In Gloucester, electricity was restored to 48,000 homes plunged into darkness when a substation was deluged. A second substation in Walham, which supplies half a million homes, was saved from flooding.

Although the chaos in Abingdon and Oxford on Monday night was less severe than expected, the Thames was rising south of Oxford all day, swamping playing fields and gardens.

Water levels of the Great Ouse in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, were expected to peak in the early hours. More floods are expected to hit Reading today, with Windsor and Slough following tomorrow.

Firemen took advantage of the rare sunshine and clear skies yesterday to shore up potential flood targets ahead of more rain expected tomorrow.

The summer is expected to be one of the soggiest on record. Taken together, May, June and July were the wettest in England and Wales since 1789, according to the Meteorological Office.

However, there is a glimmer of hope. The latest updated forecast for August predicts 'settled weather'.

PETS LEFT TO DIE

Kennels have been refused supplies of drinking water - and told to kick out the pets in their care.

Severn Trent Water also refused to provide large containers to firms that found some supplies.

Ever since the floods hit, kennels in Gloucestershire have been overwhelmed with rescued or abandoned pets. David Parkinson, who runs a kennels in Birdlip, said: "It's very cruel. They are basically leaving these animals to die."

A Severn Trent spokesman said: "We have our hands full supplying water to humans. We are not set up to deal with animal welfare."

APPEAL LAUNCH

An emergency appeal by the British Red Cross raised more than £300,000 for flood victims in its first hour yesterday.

The National Floods Appeal was set up to raise cash for those hardest hit by the devastating deluges in central England over the last few days.

Donations have been received from Tesco, Halifax and Glaxo-SmithKline and £100,000 has been contributed from the Red Cross's own disaster fund. Donations can be made by visiting www. redcross.org.uk/floodsappeal or calling 0845 054 7200.

heartswarm · July 25, 2007

Well you're very welcome to have some of the water back. Please go and collect it immediately!:rolleyes:

:laugh3:

looking forward to that :rolleyes:

mc_squared · July 25, 2007

:laugh3:
looking forward to that :rolleyes:

I suggest you start in Tewkesbury!!:rolleyes:

mc_squared · July 25, 2007

Hundreds evacuated as Thames bursts its banks

Fears of disease outbreak growing

Last updated at 15:46pm on 25th July 2007 Comments (12)

The River Thames has burst its banks leading to the evacuation of hundreds of homes as the country's flooding catastrophe continues.

Emergency teams were today fighting to save Oxford from more widespread flooding.

Streets around the city's railway station were submerged under four feet of water in places.

So far 800 residents are believed to have been forced out of their homes and it is feared the city's flood defences may be overwhelmed by the rising water.

Fire chiefs have warned that thousands of residents could lose their power, in a repeat of the devastation which affected Gloucestershire at the weekend.

People evacuate from the Osney area of Oxford where water levels rose rapidly overnight and are expected to increase further still

Fears are growing growing today that contaminated floodwater could lead to a major outbreak of disease is affected areas.

And even those who have escaped the waters will be affected as farmers warn the price of milk, vegetables and other basic foods is set to soar.

Health bosses say hundreds of thousands of flood victims now face an increased risk from bugs in contaminated water.

They claim that the failure of sewage plants could lead to the spread of microorganisms such as the noroviruses, which cause gastroenteritis and winter vomiting disease.

St Frideswide's Church in Oxford is surrounded by water