A woman died and a pensioner was missing yesterday as flash floods and strong winds swept across Britain, stranding a ferry carrying 150 people for 26 hours.
The 39-year-old woman was rescued from the sea off England’s south coast early yesterday, but later died in hospital, according to Kent Police.
“A 39-year-old lady rescued from the sea in Folkestone has sadly passed away despite efforts from emergency services to save her,” said the force.
South Wales Police yesterday also resumed the search for Russell Sherwood, 69, who disappeared after setting off on a car journey as “Storm Angus” first hit on Sunday.
Fading light and bad weather had earlier forced rescue teams to call off their search.
“This remains a difficult search in very testing conditions,” police chief Simon Davies said.
“The river is very swollen and fast flowing, and as such specialist officers with specialist equipment are conducting the search.”
Elsewhere, howling gales marooned a ferry off the Welsh coast after it was judged to be too dangerous to dock.
The 150 passengers on board eventually reached land at Fishguard, south Wales, at 11am (1100GMT), having spent over a day in the Irish Sea.
Meanwhile commuters yesterday said they were “sick of excuses” as the aftermath of Storm Angus hit rail services and Southern passengers suffered another strike.
Thousands of people crammed onto the concourse at Waterloo station on Monday night as the bad weather caused delays and cancellations. Services from Paddington and King’s Cross to Bristol and Cardiff were axed as the South-West saw 2in (50mm) of rain in 24 hours.
Workers criticised the lack of information at stations and “dangerously overcrowded” trains.
Luke Springthorpe, 27, who works in wealth management in the City, said: “The information boards at Waterloo were useless. Heavy rainfall just sounds like it’s one of their usual excuses to be honest, we’re all sick of the excuses. It’s on a par with kids wheeling out the old ‘the dog ate my homework’ line. When trains did finally start coming in there was a massive stampede. It was bedlam.”
Melody Buila, 30, a chef from Bromley, said: “There was nothing on the boards and when the train comes it says this platform, then that platform. Everyone was running around like they were in a Benny Hill sketch.”
National Rail said “heavy rain” caused flooding and poor rail conditions across England and Wales.
Yesterday, the latest strike by workers on Southern Railway over the role of conductors caused fresh travel problems. Southern earlier said it was planning to run 61% of its normal timetable, with more services available compared with previous strikes.
Pharmacist Harpreet Channa, 35, took the “horrendous” 7.53am Southern service from South Croydon to Victoria.
She said: “It was rammed and a hell of a lot worse than usual. There was nowhere for people to stand and so many people were hanging out of the doors, the driver could not close them. It was horrendous and so hot. With the weather and the strike it was a perfect storm.”




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