Flood warning issued for Dorset

24 August 2011 Last updated at 21:52 GMT A police car was among those stranded during flash floods last Thursday A warning for heavy rain and flash flooding has again been issued overnight for Dorset.

The Environment Agency and Met Office said heavy rain could affect the county between 23:00 BST on Wednesday and midday on Thursday.

There is a 30% chance of more than 50mm of rainfall in six hours in some areas.

Last Thursday, vehicles broke down, homes were flooded to "waist deep" and roads were closed after flash floods hit Dorset.

Dorset Police warned residents and motorists to take extra care and to seek regular weather updates from the Met Office.

A spokesman said that if localised flooding happened in urban areas, there was "potential for a number of surface water flooding incidents".

The worst-hit areas last week were Lulworth to Bournemouth and on to Christchurch.

Patients had to be evacuated from a private hospital after a ceiling was damaged because of the water.

Several people were rescued from vehicles stuck in flood water. Bournemouth's Lower and Central Gardens were also submerged.

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Mississippi flood levee breached

3 May 2011 Last updated at 22:59 GMT An official said it could take until late summer or early autumn for the submerged farmland to drain As many as 200 sq miles of farmland were under water on Tuesday after the US blew a hole in a Mississippi River levee to relieve a flood threat.

The Army Corps of Engineers breached the levee in an effort to save the town of Cairo, Illinois, sacrificing farmland across the river in Missouri.

A group of farmers whose land was flooded has sued the federal government over the move.

The US says farmers who had crop insurance will be reimbursed.

By blowing a hole in the levee on Monday night, the Corps of Engineers hoped to reduce the river level at Cairo, lessen the pressure on the flood wall over the town, and relieve the flood risk further down the Mississippi River.

At Cairo, a town of about 3,000 at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, the measure seemed to work, with the river level declining.

The move makes use of floodways - vast basins of land surrounded by levees that can be opened to divert flooding elsewhere.

As many as 100 homes were damaged or destroyed, and the water washed away crop prospects for the year.

"Making this decision is not easy or hard," said Maj Gen Michael Walsh, who made the call to breach the levee, according to the St Louis Post Dispatch.

"It's simply grave - because the decision leads to loss of property and livelihood, either in a floodway or in an area that was not designed to flood."

Maj Gen Walsh said it could be late summer or early autumn before the submerged land fully drains.

The National Weather Service expects record flooding further down in the Mississippi River valley in the next few weeks.

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