Roads flood and trees fall as Storm Claudia hits West Midlands

Public transport was disrupted and drivers struggled to pass through surface water as Storm Claudia hit the West Midlands.

Roads flooded with vehicles passing through deep water in places following Friday’s heavy rain, while train services were disrupted due to flooding and trees on lines. A number of events, such as Parkruns, were called off.

A Met Office yellow rain warning remains in place, with the Environment Agency (EA) predicting that further flooding is likely.

Flood barriers are up in Bewdley, Worcestershire, while Shropshire Council said barriers at Frankwell, in Shrewsbury, would be erected first thing on Saturday.

Commuters in Birmingham suffered transport problems on Friday and into Saturday.

Buses were affected with one passenger reporting flood water in the Bournville Lane tunnel started to flood the floor of the number 27 bus.

Elsewhere vehicles slowly ploughed through water along Stratford Road in Sparkhill and on Green Road in Hall Green the water level surpassed 4ft (1.22m).

In Herefordshire, flood water flowed “like a river” through Ewyas Harold damaging homes and businesses.

The village fire station said flooding had been at a record high and crews had been busy all night with incidents in the centre.

On Saturday, it said things had quietened down but the village shop said it had suffered “significant damage”.

A statement on social media from the village store and post office said the flood waters breached its flood defences and while the clean-up effort had started it would not be business as usual.

It thanked the fire crews and said it hoped to reopen “as soon as possible”.

Mark Benthan, landlord of The Bridge Inn, in Michaelchurch Ecclesley, Herefordshire, said: “Twelve hours ago the situation was dire, we had water coming through the walls, it’s the sort you only see once in living memory”.

However, he added that after a “monumental rally round” and working through the night, he planned to reopen on Saturday afternoon.

There were fears some areas of Worcestershire, which suffered from flooding in November last year, would be badly affected again but Dave Throup, a retired Environment Agency manager, said Tenbury Wells had “dodged a bullet”.

“Twenty miles difference in orientation of the rain band would have been a very different outcome,” he said on social media, warning river levels were high anyway.

In Warwickshire, police warned of road closures and urged motorists not to drive through floodwater.

Water at Kenilworth Ford, where the Finham Brook flows past Kenilworth Castle and into Abbey Fields, had reached the 4ft (1.22m) marker.

Clive Boulstridge, who grew up in the area said he had not seen the water level that high “for over a decade”.

Other roads closed in the county include Princes Drive, in Leamington Spa, where two cars got stranded, and A44 near Little Compton, where a fallen down tree blocked the road.

West Midlands Railway warned of continued disruption to services on Saturday across the region.

Buses are running instead of trains between Walsall and Rugeley Trent Valley, due to damage to the overhead electric wires, the train provider said, with the rail replacement service expected to be in place until about 15:00 GMT.

Across the West Midlands a number of Parkruns, which were scheduled to take place at 09:00 GMT on Saturday were cancelled.

Beacon Parkrun in Lichfield was called off early on Saturday morning due to the course being flooded and Cannock Chase Parkrun was also cancelled as a fallen trees had blocked the course.