The current serious flooding in South Yorkshire is featuring in the main headline news in the press and media this morning - severe flood warnings of threat to life are in place for parts of South Yorkshire, while a major incident has been declared in Sheffield.

The Environment Agency has issued five severe flood warnings which mean severe flooding is a danger to life for the River Don which has burst its banks in some areas.

A further 119 flood warnings are in place where flooding is expected and immediate action is required, together with a further 119 flood alerts where flooding possible which warn people to be prepared.

Some people have been stranded overnight at the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield where the centre was in lockdown.

The Met Office issued an Amber National Severe Weather Warning yesterday for rain with heavy rain expected in the Pennines on Thursday. A wider area to the east of Manchester covering Leeds, Sheffield, Lincoln and as far north as Middlesbrough was under a Yellow weather warning where rainfall totals could widely reach 20-40mm with 60-40mm possible over high ground, according to the forecaster,. The met Office also issued a further separate Yellow warning for rain in north Wales.  

Chief Meteorologist Neil Armstrong said:

“With a weather front from the latest low-pressure system effectively stalling over the north of England there will be a period of heavy and sustained rainfall through Thursday in the north of England. With the possibility of up to 100mm of rain falling on already saturated ground there could be some significant disruption.”

A statement from an Environment Agency spokesperson last night said:

"We are continuing to work closely with local authorities to reduce the risk of flooding.

"Our field teams have been ensuring flood defences can fully operate and deploying temporary flood barriers to help protect people and property.

"We advise people to stay away from swollen rivers and not to walk or drive through floodwater as just 30cm of flowing water is enough to move your car."

According to the RiverLevels.UK website, 215 locations are currently above normal and rising. Even where the rain has stopped, water running off hills means river levels are continuing to rise.

River and sea levels are checked regularly by a network of monitoring stations operated by the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.

RiverLevels.UK draws together data from all of these sources to provide a unified river levels and flood warnings map as well as detailed information for each river level monitoring station and flood warning area.

The latest recording for the River Don in Doncaster shows the level has risen to 6.28m - the average is between 0.2m and 3.6m.