UK flooding 2024
Images of the Trent Valley, before and after
Heavy rain from consecutive storms left large parts of the UK under water in early January 2024. On January 2, a deep low-pressure system brought high winds and heavy rain to parts of the U.K. Storm Henk delivered more than 40mm of rain to parts of England and Wales in 24 hours. The rain fell on soils that were already saturated from another storm that hit the region in late December 2023. Henk was the U.K.’s first named storm of 2024 and the eighth so far this season (which runs from September to August).
Between October 1, 2023, and January 4, 2024, parts of the East Midlands, northeast England, and eastern Scotland received more than 150% of the 1991-2020 average rainfall for those months.
Large parts of England and Wales saw high winds and rain on January 2, 2024. On the Isle of Wight winds reached 150km per hour. Inland, at London’s Heathrow airport, winds gusted up to 110km per hour. The disturbance brought up to 40mm of rain to areas of Wales and central and southern England on January 2, and the Environment Agency issued more than 250 flood warnings.
Several riverside towns were flooded in central England. Among the incidents reported, people rescued two people from a car sinking in floodwater along the river Cole in Birmingham. Near Northampton the river Nene rose to 1.63m on January 3, just 1cm below the record high level recorded on December 24, 2020. Rain continued to fall on saturated ground even after Storm Henk passed.
These two images show flooding (before and after) along the River Trent near Newark and Nottingham in the East Midlands. Nottingham is the urban area to the extreme southwest of the images, and Newark is the urban area in the centre-right. More than 100 flooded properties were evacuated in Nottinghamshire, where officials called for emergency support for affected communities.
Before
After
Water levels continued to rise along the Trent after January 4. On January 6, Nottinghamshire County Council issued a new flood warning, as water levels on the River Trent had reached a record peak north of Newark, surpassing previous high levels set in 2000. By January 8, multiple road closures remained in place across Nottinghamshire, including along major routes in and around Newark.
You can download high-res versions of the images here:
Flooding Along the River Trent (nasa.gov)
You can download high-res versions of similar images for the River Severn here: