British PM warns of worsening floods

Download

British Prime Minister David Cameron warned on Tuesday that domestic floods were likely going to get worse before they got better, pledging money was now no object to battling back the rising waters.

Cameron scrapped a previously unannounced trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territories next week in order to stay home and deal with the floods, as the government faced renewed criticism that it was under-prepared.

Troops were sent in to help deal with the worsening situation in southern England as hundreds of homes were swamped along the River Thames and rail services succumbed to the bad weather.

Affluent towns and villages along the Thames to the west of London have been transformed into lagoons.

More than 1,000 homes have been evacuated along the Thames, and the situation was set to worsen with heavy rain and storms on the way by Friday.

"There is absolutely no sign of this threat abating, and with further rain and strong winds forecast throughout the week, things may get worse before they get better," Cameron told reporters at his Downing Street office. "Money is no object in this relief effort. Whatever money is needed for it will be spent. We will take whatever steps are necessary."

As for his planned Middle East trip, Cameron said he would instead continue to "lead the national response" by heading the government's COBRA emergency committee.

He said he was sending his apologies to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, "but nothing is more important than dealing with these floods."

It would have been Cameron's first trip to the region since becoming prime minister in 2010.

Flooding first hit the largely rural southwestern county of Somerset but has now engulfed towns and villages along the swollen Thames in the southeast, encroaching toward London.

A total of 1,600 troops have been deployed, and some were already at work filling sandbags in Wraysbury, where one resident had a bitter exchange with Defense Secretary Philip Hammond.

Su Burrows, a volunteer flood warden, said the relief effort had been left to residents like her and pleaded with Hammond for military help to distribute sandbags.

"I'm sorry, I am going to get emotional. There are 100 people of this village currently working together, none of them (Environment Agency) agents, not one," she told him in the exchange on Sky News television.

Burrows said later that her blast seemed to have borne fruit, as 2,000 sandbags were sent to Wraysbury, followed soon afterward by 100 soldiers.

Hammond cautioned that government cannot "prevent the course of nature".

Insurers said overall claims had already exceeded $825 million and the bill would rise fast.

Cameron said $3.9 billion would be spent on flood defense between 2010 and 2014.

Questions:

1. What natural disaster is Britain dealing with?

2. What areas are affected?

3. Who canceled travel plans?

Answers:

1. Heavy flooding.

2. Hundreds of homes are swamped along the River Thames and rail services succumbed to the bad weather.

3. Prime Minister David Cameron.

（中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.