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Flood barriers up along River Severn amid highest water levels in three years

Flood barriers were holding back rising water levels along the River Severn in the wake of heavy rain.

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Water levels were rising in Bewdley as it started to flow over the banks of the river

Alerts are in place along the river at Bridgnorth, Bewdley and Stourport warning of potential flooding.

Heavy rain in Wales led river levels to swell prompting the installation of flood barriers over the weekend.

Flood barriers line the River Severn in Bewdley amid rising water levels

Water levels were approaching 12ft (3.6m) on Monday afternoon.

Environment Agency officials warned river levels could peak into tomorrow and remain high until Thursday.

Flood barriers were erected at Severnside and Beales Corner in Bewdley.

This came as the River Severn reached its highest levels in three years.

Barriers had also been erected in Ironbridge and Shrewsbury with six warnings in total.

Water levels could peak for the next three days

Flood gates down river at Upton-upon-Severn were also being closed.

A spokesman said: "We are closely monitoring the situation.

"Our incident response staff have erected flood barriers at Severnside and Beales Corner, Bewdley.

"Please plan driving routes to avoid low lying roads near rivers, which may be flooded."

There were 20 flood warnings and 28 flood alerts in force in England on Monday with the majority in Yorkshire and the Midlands.

People inspecting the barriers as water levels rise

Despite more rain expected in western parts of the country on Monday, the Met Office said conditions will get warmer and drier throughout the week.

Meteorologist John West said the high river levels were due to heavy downpours over the weekend, with parts of Wales having half a month's rain in the space of a day.

He added: "We saw quite a lot of rain in western areas over the last few days, which helps to top up river levels.

"On Saturday, we recorded about half a month's rainfall for parts of Wales. We got about 110-115mm of rain within a 12 to 18-hour period.

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"We are probably going to see an additional 10mm over the hills of west Wales."

Mr West said temperatures could rise to the mid-teens by the end of the week.

He added: "There's certainly going to be a bit of an improvement.

"We should probably get up to about 11 degrees as a max somewhere in the south-east, that jumps up by Tuesday with highs of 14 in the south-east.

"We will probably hang on to those temperatures in the mid-teens, we could see 16 or 17 as we go through the back end of the week."

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