Wales Bears Brunt as Storm Dennis Rips Across Britain

丹尼斯風暴襲英 威爾斯首當其衝

Storm Dennis roared across Britain with high winds and heavy rains Sunday, prompting authorities to issue a record number of flood warnings and alerts for England and a rare "red warning" for extremely life-threatening flooding in Wales.

       週日（按編：2020 年 2 月 16 日）丹尼斯風暴（Storm Dennis）狂襲(roar，註 1)英國（Britain），帶來超大豪雨及強陣風，促使(prompt，註 2)當局對英格蘭（England）發布歷年來數量最多的洪水警報(alert)，並宣布威爾斯（Wales）處於罕見的(rare)「紅色警戒」，指當地洪災已達到威脅居民生命安全的(life-threatening，註 3)程度。

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Wales Bears Brunt as Storm Dennis Rips Across Britain
VOA News｜Europe
February 16, 2020 05:34 PM (source)

Wales Bears Brunt as Storm Dennis Rips Across Britain

丹尼斯風暴襲英 威爾斯首當其衝

February 16, 2020 05:34 PM

Associated Press

Storm Dennis roared across Britain with high winds and heavy rains Sunday, prompting authorities to issue a record number of flood warnings and alerts for England and a rare "red warning" for extremely life-threatening flooding in Wales.

The Met Office, Britain's meteorological service, only issues its highest red warning when it thinks the weather will be so dangerous there's a "risk to life" and that people must take immediate action to protect themselves. It was the first time a red warning has been sounded since December 2015.

Four hours later, the south Wales alert was downgraded to "amber," which still warns of significant impact from the weather and a "potential risk to life." The Met Office also had four other amber warnings in place in England and Wales following the torrential downpours.

Wales appeared to be bearing the brunt of the two-day storm after a month's rain fell in the space of 48 hours. South Wales Police declared a "major incident" following multiple floods, landslides and evacuations. And Gwent Police said residents of Skenfrith, Monmouthshire, were being advised to evacuate due to the flooding.

The Met Office said the highest wind gust recorded was 91 mph (146 kph) at Aberdaron in north Wales on Saturday. It also said a total of 157.6 mm (6.1 inches) of rain fell at Crai Reservoir in the Welsh county of Powys over 48 hours to Sunday morning.

The River Taff burst its banks in the Welsh town of Pontypool and severe flood warning have been issued for the River Neath in south Wales and the River Teme further north.

As the wet and windy weather started to clear across parts of the south, the number of flood warnings across the U.K. declined but there were still around 350 of them in place Sunday, from the north of Scotland through to Cornwall in southwest England.

John Curtin, the executive director of flood and coastal risk management at the Environment Agency, said in a tweet that at one point during the day, England had the most flood warnings and lower-level alerts in force — 594 — than on any other day on record.

The local authority in Herefordshire, an English county that borders central Wales, declared a "major incident" amid widespread flooding and said it was focusing on making sure "vulnerable residents are evacuated." West Mercia Police, also declared a "major incident" for Shropshire, another county in central England that borders Wales.

Flood warnings could remain in place for a while since much of Britain is still saturated from last week's Storm Ciara, which left eight people dead across Europe.

"Whilst the heaviest rain has cleared from Northern Ireland and Scotland, England and Wales will continue to see heavy rain on Sunday, with a risk of severe flooding in places," said Andy Page, the Met Office's chief meteorologist.

The fourth named storm of Europe's winter season has already been blamed for the deaths of two men who were pulled Saturday from the sea in separate searches off England's southeastern coast.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled due to the high winds while train services were repeatedly disrupted by flooding, affecting tens of thousands of passengers as British families leave for the mid-winter school break.

On Saturday, around 75 British army personnel and 70 reservists helped out communities in the flood-hit Calder Valley region in West Yorkshire, constructing flood barriers and repairing damaged flood defenses.
 

週日（按編：2020 年 2 月 16 日）丹尼斯風暴（Storm Dennis）狂襲(roar，註 1)英國（Britain），帶來超大豪雨及強陣風，促使(prompt，註 2)當局對英格蘭（England）發布歷年來數量最多的洪水警報(alert)，並宣布威爾斯（Wales）處於罕見的(rare)「紅色警戒」，指當地洪災已達到威脅居民生命安全的(life-threatening，註 3)程度。

針對惡劣天氣，鑒於有危害生命安全的風險，英國中央氣象局（Met Office）一旦發布最高級的紅色警戒（red warning），居民必須立即(immediate，註 4)採取行動保護自身安全。這次是繼 2015 年 12 月以來首次發布警戒。

4 小時後，威爾斯南部的警報被下修(downgrade)至「琥珀(amber)」等級，表示風暴對該區仍有明顯影響，民眾恐「有生命危險(potential risk to life)」。英格蘭及威爾斯地區在面臨傾盆(torrential，註 5)暴雨(downpour，註 6)後，中央氣象局陸續發布了 4 起琥珀警戒。

威爾斯地區首當其衝(brunt，註 7)，不僅在 48 小時內降下相當於 1 個月的雨量，南威爾斯警方在因應多起洪災、土石流(landslide)和撤離(evacuate，註 8)居民後，更宣布當地進入「重大事件(major incident)」。格溫特郡（Gwent）警方也表示，由於洪水氾濫，建議蒙茅斯郡（Monmouthshire）斯肯弗里斯（Skenfrith）的居民必須緊急撤離。

氣象局表示：週六（按編：2020 年 2 月 15 日）在北威爾斯的阿貝達隆（Aberdaron）測得每小時 146 公里（91 英里）的最高風速(wind gust)，而位在附近的波伊斯（Powys）克雷水庫（Crai Reservoir），至週日（按編：2020 年 2 月 16 日）上午也累積達 157.6 毫米（6.1 吋）的雨量。

威爾斯龐蒂浦（Pontypool）小鎮的塔夫河（the River Taff）burst its banks(潰堤)後，南部的尼思河（the River Neath）以及偏北的特姆河（the River Teme）也發佈嚴重警戒。

儘管部分南部地區風雨趨緩，警戒也逐一解除，全英國（the U.K.）從蘇格蘭（Scotland）北部至英格蘭西南部的康瓦耳（Cornwall）地區至週日仍有約 350 起洪水警戒。

英國環境部（Environment Agency）洪水海岸災害應變中心（flood and coastal risk management）主任約翰‧科廷（John Curtin）在Tweeter發文表示，英格蘭週日所發布的洪水警戒創下單日歷史新高，初級洪水警戒值甚至來到 594 起。

與威爾斯中部交界(border)的赫里福德郡（Herefordshire）當局因這場水患發佈「重大事件」，並表示他們正專注於受災(vulnerable，註 9)戶的撤離作業。此外，西梅西亞（West Mercia）警局也宣布中英格蘭鄰近威爾斯的施洛普郡（Shropshire）進入「重大事件」。

英國在上週西婭拉風暴（Storm Ciara）的肆虐過後，仍有許多地區淹水(saturated)，因此警報恐將持續一段時間。該風暴造成歐洲 8 人死亡。

中央氣象局首席氣象學家(chief meteorologist)安迪．佩奇（Andy Page）表示，北愛爾蘭（Northern Ireland）和蘇格蘭雖然已解除大雨特報，英格蘭和威爾斯仍可能持續降下超大豪雨，造成嚴重洪災。

這起歐洲（Europe）冬季第 4 號風暴，2 人因海浪捲走喪命，並分別在英格蘭東南岸被尋獲。

風暴來臨之際正值學校寒假，原本許多家庭計畫出遊，但巨大風浪導致數百個航班取消，洪水也一再地癱瘓(disrupt，註 10)鐵路系統，影響數萬名旅客。

科爾德河谷（Calder Valley）地區的西約克郡（West Yorkshire）是這次洪水重災區。週六（按編：2020 年 2 月 15 日）約 75 名軍人(army personnel)及 70 名後備軍人(reservists)協助救災，建立防洪閘門(flood barriers)還有重建受損的防洪設施(flood defenses)。