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David Cameron visits flood-hit York

British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the flood-hit historic city of York on Monday as cities, towns and villages across northern England battled to get back on their feet following devastating

British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the flood-hit historic city of York on Monday as cities, towns and villages across northern England battled to get back on their feet following devastating storms.

Mr Cameron tweeted a picture of himself meeting soldiers helping with the aftermath of the flooding as he faced increasing pressure to take more action to prevent more such chaos in future.

Around 500 properties were flooded in York, one of Britain’s top tourist attractions on Sunday as two rivers burst their banks. Some residential streets became so inundated that cars were covered up to their roofs.

Soldiers helped pile sandbags up to protect properties and businesses while emergency services paddled around the streets in dinghies trying to find stranded residents, who were then evacuated.

Flooding has also hit the cities of Leeds and Manchester in recent days, as well as a string of towns and villages nearby. The Environment Agency had 27 severe flood warnings in place on Monday, signalling a “danger to life”, chiefly at points along major rivers in Yorkshire.

There were also another 170 flood warning or alerts in place, meaning flooding was either expected or possible.

Mr Cameron sent in 200 more troops to help 300 already on the ground in northern England with tackling the effects of flooding Sunday. Another 1,000 are on standby in case the situation gets worse.

More rain is forecast later in the week, raising the prospect of further floods at a time when many people are still at home following Christmas celebrations.

The met office weather forecasting service has issued warnings of rain on Wednesday in northwest and northeast England plus Wales, Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland.

Mr Cameron’s government was under pressure Monday over the quality of Britain’s flood defences. The country has been hit by a string of serious floods including in Cumbria, northern England, earlier this month and in late 2013 and early 2014 in southwest and southeast England.

The Independent’s front page headline read: “The drowning of the north of England” while the Sun ran with “Blunder water”.

The Guardian said that “empty rhetoric and even the Army cannot substitute for coherent policy on flood prevention”.

David Rooke, Environment Agency deputy chief executive told BBC that a “complete rethink” was needed.

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