Amber cold weather warning in place for 5 days as UK battles floods and ice

An amber weather warning for cold temperatures will remain in place for five more days as Brits continue to battle extreme weather.

On Sunday, the Met Office and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) upgraded a warning for cold weather to amber, which will remain in place until 12 January.

The amber alert will affect the north-west of England, the West Midlands, East Midlands and south-west of England while a yellow alert will be in place in the north-east of England, Yorkshire and The Humber, East of England, south-east of England and London.

Scotland, where the mercury dropped to -5°C on Sunday morning, is forecast to see some of the lowest temperatures, consistently dropping to below freezing most nights this coming week.

The UKHSA said the cold temperatures would impact “the whole health service,” adding that “the whole population” will be at risk.

Additionally, the Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for ice, beginning Monday at 4am for southern England covering London, Kent, Surrey and East and West Sussex.

The forecaster warned travellers of “icy patches and wintry showers” leading to “longer journey times”. It also said to anticipate “a mix of sleet and snow showers” until 10am on Monday, falling heaviest in Sussex.

Dr Agostinho Sousa, Head of Extreme Events and Health Protection at UKHSA, highlighted the importance of checking on the “wellbeing of those most vulnerable to the cold”.

“Cold weather can increase the risks of heart attacks, strokes, and chest infections,” he said. “It can have a serious impact on health, particularly for older people and those with pre-existing health conditions.”

With energy bills set to increase by 5 per cent from January, Dr Sousa also called on those over the age of 65 and with pre-existing medical conditions to “heat the rooms where you spend most of your time”.

The freezing temperatures come after an intense deluge of rain brought by Storm Henk flooded more than 1,800 properties.

Depsite drier weather being forecast for the coming week, the Environment Agency (EA) has said the risk posed by high water levels is still likely to continue over the next four days.

Warning that conditions were still “treacherous”, the agency said: “River banks are crumbling and slippery, let people know where you are and stay well clear of flood waters.”

Parts of the River Thames in Oxfordshire, the River Trent near Nottingham and the River Severn including Gloucester will remain a cause for concern moving into this coming week.

As of Sunday afternoon, 167 flood warnings were still in place where flooding is “expected”. A further 172 alerts were issued where flooding was “possible”.

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Visiting those already affected by the extreme weather, Rishi Sunak met residents in Oxford on Sunday, saying the flooding had had “a devastating impact on communities up and down the country” but thanked first responders “who were doing a fantastic job”.

“We have over 1,000 Environment Agency personnel on the ground in local communities helping,” he said. “Over 200 pumps have been deployed.

“We’ve invested £5.2 billion in flood defences over the period in question, that’s a record sum, far more than we’ve done (previously), in the future that’s contributed to protecting over 300,000 homes.

“And, of course, there have been many people affected by what’s happened over the past week, but also over 49,000 have been affected by flooding.”