Call in the Navy! Weather to dramatically worsen as storm Brigid batters coast

Forecasters warned of 80mph gusts, hours of downpours and snow across much of Britain.

And the extreme weather from the Atlantic is expected to bring huge tidal and river swells in parts of Britain that have already suffered widespread floods.



Weather Channel forecaster Leon Brown said: “There will be severe gales in Wales and western England in the afternoon and all evening, with gusts of more than 80mph. Large waves could also pound the south-west and Welsh coasts.

“Even inland we may see gusts of more than 60mph as a band of heavy showers moves eastwards.

“Huge seas off the west coast of Ireland will batter the coast at high tide, with waves perhaps over 50ft high.”Looking further ahead, he warned: “There will be more stormy and wet weather next week from Wednesday onwards.”

The thousands of people flooded out for four weeks in Somerset were last night told they face 20 more years of misery after environment bosses came under attack for ending the dredging of rivers.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has said dredging will start again as soon as it is safe.

But he warned: “We have established we do need a proper 20-year plan to satisfactorily cover this very specialist part of our country.”

He added: “There is further bad weather coming in, there will be heavy rain. That, combined with significant high spring tides mean that I’m afraid there is real risk of flooding to properties.”