'Exceptional weather' with rain, wind and high tides to hit UK
A period of "exceptional weather" with rain, wind and high tides is set to hit the UK, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has said.
He was speaking after chairing a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee, in which different agencies discussed the UK's response to floods.
Dozens of flood warnings are in place in England, Wales and Scotland.
The Environment Agency has also warned of possible tidal flooding in the south and west of England later this week.
It said it expects to issue severe flood warnings - indicating a danger to life - in the coming hours, most likely for the Isles of Scilly, the north and south coasts of Devon and Cornwall, Dorset and Wales' coastline.
Mr Paterson said the coast would be dangerous.
He said ministers were working to ensure all agencies were "absolutely prepared for the bad weather."
Cobra, named after Cabinet Office Briefing Room A in Whitehall, brings together ministers, civil servants and others such as the police and Environment Agency - depending on the nature of the emergency it is responding to.
(continued, weather computer keeps getting itself a out of range error however no one at the met office is sure what it means, except its very bad and it is happening really soon....within five days....real weather at last, unpredictable and wild like the end of the world Biblical epic....)
