Amazing moment Patsy the sheepdog swims through Storm Babet floods to rescue three ewes trapped by rising waters as red weather warning remains after three die and train …
Published: 11:26, 21 October 2023 | Updated: 17:19, 21 October 2023
Storm Babet has claimed what is thought to be its sixth victim after a crash that killed two women on the M4 was linked to dangerous weather – as amazing footage was shared of a sheepdog bounding to the rescue of three stranded ewes in Wales.
Four cars and an HGV were involved in the deadly crash at around 9.10am on Friday, which occurred eastbound between junction 17 at Chippenham and junction 18 at Bath; two women were pronounced dead[2] at the scene.
Wiltshire Police said the investigation into the crash is still ongoing – but MailOnline understands detectives believe the weather played a ‘significant part’ in the crash. Flooding had been reported elsewhere on the motorway early on Friday.
A second red ‘danger to life’ warning[3] remains in effect in eastern Scotland and hundreds of flood warnings have been issued across the country, while major incidents have been declared in Derbyshire and Suffolk after two months of rain fell in three days across parts of Britain.
But spirits have been lifted by footage of plucky pooch Patsy, who swam across to help three ewes after owner Llyr Derwydd saw they were in trouble in Flintshire, Wales on Friday afternoon and sent the courageous canine to coax them to safety.[4]
A crash on the M4 on Friday morning that killed two women has been linked with the bad weather brought by Storm Badet, MailOnline understands
Patsy bounds into the water without a thought as farmer Llyr Derwydd commands her to round up the stranded ewes
Patsy (seen to the right of the image in the water) routes the sheep into the water, where they gingerly make their way onto dry land
Mission accomplished as the sheep retreat onto dry land away from the floodwaters as Patsy (to the right) continues spurring them on
Mr Derwydd said that Patsy was a strong swimmer and had no trouble reaching and rounding up the sheep
Sheep farmer Llyr Derwydd (pictured with his wife Emma) shared the footage of Patsy online
X – formerly Twitter – users were full of praise for Patsy after she went above and beyond to rescue the stranded ewes
Heartwarming footage shared by the sheep farmer on social media showed him calling out and whistling at Patsy as she chased the ewes along the edge of the field, before they found a shallower spot to furtively tread across.
‘Patsy! Good girl, good girl,’ Mr Derwydd calls out as she successfully routes the trio onto dry land, away from the encroaching flood waters, before joyously bounding back to her master for a pat on the head.
Dad-of-three Mr Derwydd shared footage of Patsy’s good work on X, formerly Twitter[5], where it has been watched thousands of times – earning her some new fans.
Speaking to the PA news agency, he said: ‘We thought we’d better go check, make sure all the sheep are safe, and that’s when we saw the three ewes stranded on this little spot on the field.
‘It was getting smaller and smaller so we thought we’d better get them off and make sure they’re safe.
‘I just thought, “I’ll see if the dog will go”.
I gave her the command and she swam across.
‘It was quite dangerous because I didn’t know how deep it was. She’s a strong swimmer and she was able to swim across.
‘I knew she was quite a good swimmer otherwise I wouldn’t have done that, but I was quite surprised that she didn’t have any issues, she just went.
‘(It) saved me getting wet and getting into a dangerous situation and saved the sheep so it was perfect.’
One X user who watched the video said: ‘great dog..good work..gwaith da (good work)!’
Another added: ‘Awww what a brave and clever doggo…doing what she loves – braving water too!!’
A third wrote: ‘Awwwww her little tail at the end…She’s so proud of herself.’
Another social media user suggested that a T-bone steak would be a worthy reward for Patsy after her efforts.
But as a working dog, Mr Derwydd said, rescuing ewes is all part of the job – with her rewards extending to ‘a pat on her head’, being told ‘she’s a good girl’ and an extra dog biscuit.
Storm Babet shows no signs of abating as downpours continue to batter much of the UK on Saturday following three deaths in ‘biblical’ conditions that have seen up to two months of rain hit parts of the UK in the space of three days.
Homes in Brechin, Angus, have been evacuated as the banks of the River South Esk burst after surging 5m higher than normal; in nearby Fowlis, outside Dundee, the coastguard were called to help after a bridge collapsed, taking a car with it.
The storm has claimed the lives of six people since Thursday including two in Angus, Scotland[6]: a 57-year-old woman who died after being swept into a river and a 56-year-old man in the region who was killed by a falling tree that struck his van.
A man in his 60s died after getting caught in fast-flowing flood water in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire on Friday; police found his body two hours after he disappeared under the water.
Elsewhere, a crash in Calderdale[7] near Halifax, West Yorkshire on Friday night left the 19-year-old driver of a white Seat Ibiza dead and their 18-year-old passenger fighting for their life. The weather conditions were ‘a factor’ in the crash, reports The Sun[8].
ABERDEENSHIRE: Emergency service workers put down sandbags in Inverurie, 16 miles north-west of Aberdeen, ahead of expected heavy rain
DUNDEE: A car became submerged in the road on Friday after a bridge collapsed, taking the vehicle with it. Locals said the occupant was rescued by a farmer
CHESTERFIELD: An emergency services worker gives a piggyback to a local resident as flooding rose to ankle-deep levels in Derbyshire
SANDIACRE: Streets were washed out by flooding in the Derbyshire town after both a local canal and river burst their banks
DOVER: A DFDS ferry battles the choppy waters on the south-east coast of England
LONDON: King’s Cross Station was temporarily closed on Saturday after a mass of cancellations and delays led to overcrowding; it has since re-opened for some services
Hundreds of flood alerts and warnings remain in place across England and eastern and northern Scotland
Dramatic images shared on social media showed the vehicle submerged in the road up to its front doors; locals said the occupant was rescued by a local farmer.
The end of Scotland’s red alert has been brought forward six hours to 6pm, from midnight – but the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) has warned of a ‘difficult day ahead’ amid fears rivers could burst their banks again.
Police Scotland has advised against all but essential travel, as searches continue for a man missing in Aberdeenshire said to have been trapped in a vehicle in floodwater early on Friday.
Yellow and amber warnings in place across large swathes of England have been lifted save for a yellow ‘be aware’ alert for wind that stretches from Whitby in Yorkshire all the way up to Aberdeen.
But flood warnings remain active as of Saturday: across England, there were 353 warnings and 248 alerts; Scotland has five severe flood warnings, 17 flood warnings and 10 flood alerts in place; 14 flood alerts, one severe warning and eight other warnings are in effect in Wales.
In England, 55,000 people were left without power on Friday; 45,000 of those were reconnected last night, the Energy Networks Association said.
Around 33,000 Scots lost power as a result of the weather, with the majority now reconnected.
A yellow Met Office alert for rain remains in place for most of central and north-eastern Scotland, with amber rain warnings across Highland Perthshire and the eastern Highlands north of Inverness.
Met forecaster Jonathan Vautrey told the PA news agency: ‘The focus of the rainfall from Saturday shifts back northwards over towards eastern and northern Scotland.
‘Some parts of those areas have seen about a month and a half’s worth of rain already, but there’s another band that’s forecast to track its way northwards over the course of the night and push its way towards relatively similar areas.
Mr Vautrey said the yellow wind warning across eastern Scotland and north-east England could bring ‘gales in excess of 60-70 miles per hour’, but added: ‘That is going to work its way off (the coast) throughout Saturday, so from a wind aspect there will be some improvement.’
More than 75 people were in rescue centres in Angus, east Scotland, while Angus Council said people in more than 60 homes in Brechin, who refused previous evacuation attempts, required rescue.
Weather alerts for central and southern England have been lifted – though a red ‘danger to life’ alert remains in place for eastern Scotland
CAMBRIDGESHIRE: Flooding around St Ives, five miles east of Huntingdon, on Saturday morning after the Great River Ouse burst its banks
DERBYSHIRE: Vehicles lie abandoned in flood water in Chesterfield early on Saturday morning
YORK: A Nissan Micra sits abandoned in a waterlogged street in the city centre as the River Ouse burst its banks
CHESTERFIELD: The great clean-up begins in the Derbyshire market town as a worker clears out a drain
CAMBRIDGESHIRE: Huntingdon Race Course in Cambridgeshire is submerged after the Alconbury Brook burst its banks on Friday
LONDON: The weather warning may have lifted but tourists were still dealing with downpours and flood alerts in the capital on Saturday
Jacqui Semple, head of risk, resilience and safety for Angus Council, said: ‘People are devastated. This is awful.
‘It would be awful. Your house flooded, your belongings, the impact emotionally and physically and everything that goes with that.
‘They’ve got all of those people who have been affected arriving at our rest centres in such a state – wet, cold, and just so unbelievably upset.’
Elsewhere, Liverpool start Trent Alexander-Arnold had a lucky escape after a 40ft electricity pylon came crashing down onto a BMW[9] in front of his Range Rover in 70mph winds.
The power line, which weighs half a ton, careened down on top of the other vehicle – and while both cars suffered damage both Alexander-Arnold and the other driver escaped unhurt.
Storm Babet has wrought chaos on the transport network, grinding train services to a halt as railway lines were flooded and roads were waterlogged, submerging vehicles in the streets.
Roads across the country are dotted with abandoned and flooded cars.
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) has advised people not to travel, adding that it is running ‘an extremely limited service’ due to flooding between Doncaster and Wakefield.
The service has also been impacted by speed restrictions in Scotland and trains and crews being out of position after extensive disruption on Friday.
Kings Cross Station was temporarily closed[10] on Saturday as the sheer scale of weather-related cancellations threatened to cause a crush on the concourse.
Police eventually instated crowd control measures and some services have begun operating as efforts to clear tracks continued.
Julie Foley, director of flood strategy and adaptation at the Environment Agency, has warned people not to drive through flood waters, urging those in deluged areas to ‘really consider their travel plans’.
She told BBC Breakfast on Saturday: ‘If you receive a flood warning that means you need to take action right now, it means there is an immediate risk and you need to keep yourself safe, your family safe, move precious belongings to a safe place, and listen to the advice of local emergency services, as well as do some basics like turn off your gas, electricity and water in your home.
‘And if you receive a severe flood warning, that means there is a risk to life, and it’s very important that you listen to the advice if you’re asked to evacuate and take action. We’ve sadly seen over the last couple of days just how dangerous flood waters can be.
‘It’s really important that people stay away from swollen rivers. It’s very, very important that people don’t drive through flood waters, all it takes is up to 30 centimetres of fast flowing water to actually move a car.
‘So I would really urge people to really consider their travel plans.
I’m very, very aware there’s an enormous amount of travel disruption going on across the country at the moment.’
DERBYSHIRE: Major rail routes have been affected by flooding – this image, from Network Rail, shows flooding at Clay Cross in the East Midlands
LEEDS: Emergency services at the scene after a passenger plane came off the runway at Leeds Bradford Airport while landing in windy conditions
Emergency services at the scene after a passenger plane came off the runway at Leeds Bradford Airport
The photos show the plane stuck in thick mud after it skidded off the runway on landing.
No one is thought to have been hurt in the crash
FIFE: Waves break over Dysart harbour wall on the east coast of Scotland during storm Babet
SUFFOLK: Simon O’Brien (left) using his homemade boat, which he built for his grandchildren, to rescue elderly residents from their home in the village of Debenham
BRECHIN: A woman is helped to safety by rescue workers as flood waters devastated streets of the Scottish town.
Local authorities say much of the area is ‘now only accessible via boat’
BRECHIN: A member of the emergency services helps resident Laura Demontis from a house as Storm Babet batters the country
DERBYSHIRE: The terrifying moment a school bus full of screaming children floods
In Nottinghamshire, fire and rescue service staff came to the aid of four people trapped on the roof of their car after it got stuck in flood waters in Trowell.
More than 100 people had to be rescued in Derbyshire on Friday and the service declared a major incident due to the impact of Storm Babet.
Footage showed a school bus flooding as screaming schoolchildren pulled their legs up onto their seats on Friday.
Moments before the water gushes in, one pupil can be seen gesturing to the others to move up to the higher deck of the bus. The children’s screams of terror grow as the water rises and one shouts: ‘No, no, no, no.’
Emergency crews also had to rescue 20 people from a care home, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue said.
Clive Stanbrook, area manager at Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service, warned flood waters could continue to rise near Derby and across south Derbyshire on Saturday.
He told BBC Breakfast: ‘We rescued over 100 people yesterday. For example, just on one road in Chesterfield in the north of the county, we rescued 60 people when that (water level) became up to the top of cars and several HGVs were stuck as well.
‘There is a village called Duffield in Derbyshire and we rescued 20 people from one care home there.
‘Also there were 18 houses that were evacuated in a village called Ironville, again in the north of the county.’
Mr Stanbrook added that officers had been working through the night to rescue people, and said West Midlands Fire Services has sent two boat crews to help rescue people trapped by the floods.
The RSPCA has also volunteered a boat crew in Derbyshire to help rescue animals such as horses and dogs.
Mr Stanbrook warned it will be dangerous travelling in flooded areas on Saturday.
He added: ‘The advice we give today is only travel if absolutely, absolutely necessary.
If floodwaters recede, then that’s absolutely great…
‘But on the road there is still going to be silt, there is still going to be debris that is going to cause real, real danger to anybody travelling at the moment – no matter what you’re travelling in.
‘No matter what size car or vehicle, please only travel if absolutely necessary.
‘Please be careful of riverbanks and canal banks. They are going to be soft.
‘Everything is going to be dangerous today if you’re walking or travelling, so please travel if only absolutely necessary.’
Flooding caused 70-minute delays on the A1 near Grantham on Friday, National Highways said, while further south, Suffolk declared a major incident as Storm Babet caused ‘major flooding’ across the county.
The rural village of Debenham was cut off by flooding, residents said, while tractors were being used to rescue people caught in the flood water.
Around 50 people were sheltering in the local leisure centre there and sleeping on crash mats, staff said.
SUNDERLAND: Sea foam coats the beachfront at Seaburn as violent waves are whipped up by Storm Babet
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE: Severe rainfall saw streets in Hucknall flooded on Thursday afternoon
BRECHIN: A woman walks through flood waters as residents are asked to evacuate by the local authorities
DUNDEE: Flood waters surround cars and houses along Heron Rise after the nearby Dighty Water broke its banks
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE: A woman carries her dog while wading through floodwater in Hucknall on Thursday
Elsewhere, passengers on a Tui flight had to be evacuated from a plane at Leeds Bradford Airport after it came off the runway[11] as it landed.
Flight TOM3551, which departed from Corfu just after 12.30pm local time (10.30am BST), was attempting to land at the airport in strong winds when the Boeing 737-800 slipped off the tarmac and was left stranded on the grass.
The airport’s emergency siren is understood to have activated when the aircraft careered off the runway upon landing at around 1.53pm BST. Witnesses described it as a ‘hard landing’ – but there were no injuries reported.
Malcolm Fell, who was on the flight, described the incident as ‘a little bit dramatic’ but everyone onboard was ‘quite calm’.
Recalling his experience, he said: ‘The plane came down and the pilot applied reverse thrust on the brakes and it started to aquaplane,’ adding ‘it seemed to speed up rather than slow down’.
‘My wife, [who] was sat next to me, turned to me and said I think you better brace yourself because this is not going to stop.
‘And then all of a sudden…we were at a standstill on the grass,’ he said.
Passenger Mr Fell said the left side of the plane was ‘covered in mud’ following the landing.
‘Everybody was quite calm, there was no screaming or drama or anything like that.
‘It took us about an hour to get us off the plane because the emergency services kicked in to make sure that the plane was secure before they evacuated us.’
He added: ‘Great thanks to the airport – they worked really well to get people off the plane.’
Footage showed the plane being quickly surrounded by emergency vehicles, including three ambulances, as they worked to try and evacuate passengers.
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said there were no reported injuries and no fire.
But all flights in and out of Leeds Bradford Airport were temporarily halted with some arrivals diverted to other airports including Manchester.
The airport re-opened on Saturday morning[12] at around 11.30am.
References
- ^ Jon Brady (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ were pronounced dead (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ red ‘danger to life’ warning (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ swam across to help three ewes (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Twitter (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ two in Angus, Scotland (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ a crash in Calderdale (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ The Sun (www.thesun.co.uk)
- ^ came crashing down onto a BMW (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Kings Cross Station was temporarily closed (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ after it came off the runway (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ re-opened on Saturday morning (www.dailymail.co.uk)