- Four sites near River Lery completely evacuated as rescuers save 150 people
- Sea King helicopters, life boats and fire crews all called in following FIVE inches of rain in just 24 hours
- RNLI rescue have to be saved themselves after becoming stranded during rescue attempt
- Caravan site owner warns that water levels are still rising as coastal area waits for midday high tide
- Stunned holidaymakers tell how flood waters submerged 'everything in their way' after nearby river burst banks
- Met Office issues weather warnings for Wales, south-west England, the Midlands, London and the South East
- Gales claimed life of 18-year-old man yesterday when he was flung from his moped in Lancing, West Sussex
- 'European monsoon' set to continue into next week with unsettled weather set to last at least a fortnight
By Chris Parsons
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Around 150 holidaymakers have been rescued from a flooded riverside caravan park today after serious flooding devastated sites across West Wales.
Dozens of people had to be saved from torrents of overnight rain in Aberystwyth, with many airlifted to safety due to the deluge of water.
Royal Air Force Sea King helicopters, inshore life boats and fire service rescue boats were called to the Riverside Caravan Park in Llandre, Bow Street, near Aberystwyth, one of the most severely-affected sites where 'numerous people' needed help.
The monsoon-like rainfall which has swept across parts of Britain in the past week is set to continue for most of the weekend, as forecasters predicted thundery showers in what is becoming a soggy summer.
Submerged: The Riverside Caravan Park is turned into a 'river' at the peak of flooding early this morning, as torrents of water raged through the site
Rescue: Life boats reach the corner of the caravan park, where torrential waters have partly-submerged cars and reached half-way up some of the holiday homes
Two cars are almost washed away as water levels reached several feet high this morning on the Welsh site
Soggy summer: Another caravan has its entire base and large parts of its exterior covered in muddy water thanks to the overnight deluge
In West Wales earlier today, fire crews rescued 35 people using inshore life boats and a further 11 from a nearby caravan park.
Dramatic scenes even saw an RNLI rescue crew require airlifting themselves, after becoming stranded while attempting to save others from the torrents of water.
Holidaymakers have been pulled to safety this morning due to a 'heavy current of water running through the caravan park', according to the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
Wrecked: The stairway up to a static home is left pulled from its base as the flood waters eventually subsided into pools of grime early this afternoon
Disastrous: An aerial image taken from above the Riverside Caravan Park shows the number of static homes which endured the barrage of water, while right, a breakdown truck was also caught out
In trouble: This row of caravans and tents also took a battering from the weather, as huge swathes of water surrounding the park
The flooding in West Wales spread to more populated parts of Aberystwyth today, as this Morrisons supermarket was flooded this morning, trapping staff inside
Weather warning: An ill-judged supermarket cone appears to tellmany people outside the Morrisons supermarket what they knew already
Caravan residents told how they woke up in the middle of the night to see large parts of the site being submerged in water.
Katie Hughes, who had been in a caravan with her young children, told Sky News today: 'The first we knew about it was at about 3.40am when we were woken up.
'There was water everywhere and parts of the caravan were almost completely underwater.
'I've never seen anything like this but everyone is pulling together. It is the entire caravan park that has become on big river.
'The water has come from the side of the river and has just taken everything in its way.'
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said Milford Haven Coastguard were contacted by Dyfed Powys police at 4.30am requesting assistance at a caravan park at the side of the River Lery near Borth.
Chief Inspector Robin Mason, of Dyfed Powys Police, said it was difficult to give an exact number of those rescued, but said he was 'aware of about 30 to 40 people evacuated from various places' and there were 'probably more'.
Stephen South, the owner of the Riverside Caravan Park, told how a crew from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution had attempted to evacuate residents, but ended up having to be airlifted themselves.
Mr South told the Daily Telegraph that an RAF Sea King helicopter which had been airlifting residents from static homes also had to save the inshore lifeboat crew.
He said: 'At 2am the river that runs alongside the site breached the banks. It gradually got worse and we have been evacuating people ever since.
'They launched the life boat to get people but the force of the water swept the lifeboat into one of the buildings.
'The last people to be rescued were the lifeboat crew.'
He told the BBC: 'When caravan parks have about 2ft of water, people have been able to make their own way in an orderly manner.
'Since dawn, a lot of people have decided to leave by their own accord.'
He said some people were trapped in buildings, but added: 'However, they are upstairs.
'We have emergency rescue teams in the area with inflatables and we are in the process of evacuating people.'
Aberystwyth and Borth Coastguard rescue teams were called out as well as the Borth RNLI inshore lifeboat.
A rescue helicopter was also requested and sent to the scene, the MCA said in a statement.
Welsh flooding graphic
The rescue teams helped 20 people from their caravans, and two of them needed help from ambulance crews because of mobility difficulties.
The statement added there was concern for others at other caravan parks further down the river and coastguard rescue teams were deployed to them.
George Crumpler, Cambrian sector manager, said: 'We responded to the request for assistance and are evacuating those at risk with the help of the other emergency services.'
RAF search and rescue crew member Sergeant Dickie Myers told Sky News: 'We were airborne just after five o'clock, we were told there were floods in the area.
'We saw the river was fairly swollen, the water level was above car levels in some places, and up to the windows of static caravans.
'Thankfully there was an on scene coordinator from the coastguard.
'We did all we could, and when we left the area we felt we'd helped everybody that we could.'
Resident Sam Ebenezer, in Talybont, told the BBC: 'The amount of water is just amazing, it's flowing from higher ground, incredible scenes, it's devastating seeing close friends' housing being soaked all the way through.
'The fire crews have done an amazing job.
'Older residents are saying that in 60 years they've never seen the river as high as this. I think it's high tide at around 12 o'clock, we're hoping that's not going to make more mess.'
The village of Talybont Ceredigion in West Wales also suffered today after the River Lery became rose by over eight feet
Abandoned rescue: A breakdown truck is itself left stranded in murky waters which went half way up its doors
Washout: A man walks through a flooded street in Ceredigion, as a deluge of overnight water hit West Wales.
Fighting the tide: Fire crews survey the scene in Ceredigion as flood waters engulf one of the main streets.
Making a splash: Elsewhere, Two bike riders narrowly avoid a soaking as a nearby motorist negotiates a partially-flooded road in Scropton, Derbyshire, today
Monster: A huge wave crashes against the lighthouse at Porthcawl, South Wales as gale force winds are predicted to reach up to 80mph
Water logged: High winds and stormy seas lash the seaside town of Aberystwyth in Wales
Whoops: The 70mph winds in Poole, Dorset blew a roof at Sunseeker Yachts on top of one of the factory's 28metre super yachts, worth £5million. Ironically, the unnamed owner had been due to make the final payment on the boat today
White horses: Gale Force Winds cause enormous waves to crash against the sea wall and lighthouse at Porthcawl, Wales, left, while right, a surfer braves the swell at Coney Beach at Porthcawl
Not quite in the right place: The 42ft Yacht Iona worth £200,000, lies on the shingle at St Mawes, Cornwall after breaking her mooring last night in the heavy storm
Running for cover: A sodden girl runs through the water left by crashing waves at Southsea, Portsmouth
Silly move: A man gets a drenching after standing on the sea wall at Southsea, left, while right, two men, brace the rain to jog along the front
Dark angel: A father and daughter brave dismal conditions to walk past the Angel of the North in Gateshead as the rain continues
Elsewhere, organisers have been forced to cancel an annual South Asian festival that regularly attracts over 100,000 visitors due to the bad weather.
The Bradford Mela, due to be held today, has been cancelled for safety reasons after the park in which it is held became heavily waterlogged.
The free event, which combines markets, funfairs, food and drink, arts, music, dance and children's activities, has been held at Peel Park in Bradford since 1998.
A statement on Bradford District Council's website read: 'The council's events organiser and parks managers assessed conditions at Peel Park this morning and the heavily waterlogged ground conditions left them with no other option but to cancel the Mela for safety reasons.
'Council officers deemed the huge infrastructure of the Mela, which consists of stages, marquees, fairground rides and temporary buildings, could be compromised by the soft and shifting ground in Peel Park. The Mela was organised for Saturday June 9 from 12pm until 8pm.
'Inspections revealed pools of standing water in key areas, including the car park. The Met Office adviser confirmed to us that there will be continued showers throughout today and overnight, meaning that the showers will add to already saturated ground.
'There were also concerns that attempts to use the park would severely damage the ground, including community football pitches, and would take several seasons of work to repair.'
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As a student of Aberystwyth University, these images have really devastated me as even though I have only just finished my first year, it has quickly become my home from home. A lot of my friends are still there and I have been worried for them. I have never known Aberystwyth to have rain on this scale, and I often walk through the Llanbardarn and Trefechan areas of town (which I believe were the worst hit in the town) in the cloudy, rainy weather, but I have never seen it this bad. I would like to take this opportunity to praise the courage and hard work of the people who put their own lives on the line to rescue those who were trapped. The community will NEVER forget what you did for us all, thanks to each and every one of you very much.
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Why did so many people need to be rescued by air lift when there is a big grass covered hill just a few metres away? Weren't these people smart enough to say "You know, the water is rising pretty fast, maybe we should move to the hill."
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"artificial clouding and cloud seeding a program that governments thru out the world are using,"
- Harry, Cheshire, 9/6/2012 16:33
So. You're not barmy then.
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This is not the effect of global warming whatever professor lamb says but the effect from artificial clouding and cloud seeding a program that governments thru out the world are using, I believe all those who are effected by this flooding should have a good case to sue the government and make the goverment prove they did not have a hand in this, Harry Cheshire
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A valley is for taking water from high round to lower ground. If you build houses or caravan sites, or roads or factories in valleys they will, one day, flood.
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Why are temperatures STILL given in Fahrenheit?
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All sympathy to the people affected by this. But to those who relate this to global warming - as a student of historical climatology this is just an example of the occasional extremes of rain that has been a part of our island climate for many centuries. There is no reliable evidence that the frequency or scale of these events is increasing - rather it is the case that such events now are more widely reported or affect more people because we have 60 million people crowded into an island that not so many centuries ago had only a fraction of that population. Many historic downpours in the summer have been recorded - nearly 9.6 inches of rain was recorded in Somerset on 28 June 1917. in July 1930 nearly 12 inches of rain fell in three days on the North York Moors, in August 1829 floods destroyed almost all bridges in NE Scotland, London had eight consecutive wet Junes from 1905 -1912 etc etc etc - the list goes on and on.
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There's only one thing you can rely on when you live on this tiny little island and that's the rain.
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Are those people in the pics along the seafront stupid or something, people who get into trouble and expect others to risk their lives to save them. Idiots.
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Sandra Garrett, St Annes Lancs - Because British people grew up on Fahrenheit, before they surrendered to Europe.
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