this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 7pm. whoa! oh, my... a major incident is declared by police in south wales, as flooding and landslides caused by storm dennis lead to a number of road closures. as we were trying to block the front door, it was all pouring in through the back door as well, and there was nothing we could do. heavy rain and strong winds continue to lash large parts of the uk, with hundreds of flood alerts in place, including six severe warnings — meaning there's a danger to life. the government says it has spent billions on flood defences. we have done more and more than ever before in terms of flood defences protecting more homes than we had to favour been able to before but we

are seeing more high frequencies of freak weather events. itv says it's devastated by the death of love island presenter caroline flack. the broadcaster says tonight's episode of the reality series won't be aired. thousands of passengers face major disruption at heathrow airport after a systems failure affects all terminals. the airport says its experiencing technical problems. now calling only those american guests from emerald deck... us citizens quarantined for days on a cruise ship injapan are leaving, after america sends two planes to take them home. and coming up in half an hour on sportsday. england completes the second highest t20 run chase in their history, to win the series.

good evening and welcome to bbc news. parts of south wales and england have endured flooded homes and streets — and landslides — after storm dennis brought heavy rain and strong winds to much of the uk. hundreds of flood warnings and alerts are in place across the country. the adverse weather has affected scotland — and parts of northern ireland too. but south wales has borne the brunt of the storm — with a major incident declared by police. hundreds of people were moved from their homes in the village of nantgarw near cardiff — from where tomos morgan sent this report. a consequence, a landslide, south wales bearing the brunt of the

latest firm to hit the uk. in nantgarwjust north of cardiff, many in nantgarw just north of cardiff, many of the residents here will never have witnessed anything quite like their road has been turned into a river, cars submerged, storm dennis. over 100 homes have been ruined by the flooding. carolyn has lived here for years, she was rescued alongside her 96—year—old father whose birthday it is today. the only thing i've managed to save is his medals from the war. ruined, everything. i've lost everything. i've got a photo here now. at the time, ijust grabbed every towel and blanket i could find and pushed up against the front door, just thinking it was going to come in through the front door because we had already got sandbags, because sometimes the floods are small with the drains. but as we were trying to block the front door,

it was all pouring into the back door as well and there was nothing we could do. here in nantgarwjust north of cardiff, over 100 homes have been ruined by the rain. rescue services have been here since 5am taking residence from their home to safety, after storm dennis wreaks havoc across south wales. several other communities in wales have also needed emergency services to help them to safety. a0 residents here were evacuated in the early hours. this exact same street was hit in 2018 after storm callum. it was clear after the met office issued its highest red warning for rain this morning that the welsh valleys would be suffering. at around lunchtime, a major incident was declared across south wales. since midnight last night, south wales fire and rescue service have experienced over 1300 calls

which is unprecedented. in that time we have carried out 76 live rescues and have had a large number of life—related calls as well. further warnings for rain and wind remain in place until this evening. last week it was ciara, this week at a storm dennis. it's effects have undoubtedly been worse here in south wales. nearly 600 flood warnings and alerts are in place in england — more than any other day on record. road, rail and air travel have been badly disrupted with several rail lines in the south west, wales, the midlands and scotland blocked by flooding. parts of the east midlands have been particularly badly affected, and heavy rain is expected to continue through the night. jon kay sent this report from tenbury wells in worcestershire. it's a race against time in tenbury wells tonight as water levels continue to rise.

this old market town is pretty much cut off after the river team burst its banks early this morning. more than 100 homes have been evacuated and some roads are impassable. we still have to wade through about a couple of feet of water. ben is stuck, struggling to return to his flat and unable to leave the town. it is devastating, because you can't get out. people were stuck in their houses. the fire and rescue have been around in boats getting people out to a temporary shelter in the high school, but it's unbearable for people who can't get out. you lose your self—dependence, don't you? it's pretty bad to bear. from the river clyde in glasgow to devon and cornwall, dennis has been an unwelcome weekend guest in almost every part of the uk. vast areas overwhelmed by huge quantities of rainfall, record numbers of flood warnings,

rescue teams and the authorities stretched to the limit. we are doing more than ever before in terms of investing in flood defences, protecting more homes than we have been able to before. but we are seeing a higher frequency of these sorts of freak weather events. it hasn't been this bad in tenbury wells since 2007, and some here question if enough has been done to protect communities like this that are at risk of flooding. andy and hannah have spent the day hoping against hope that their property will stay dry this time. what's it like just watching and waiting? it's horrible. we've seen the mess before, and we know the mess it's going to leave. it's just destruction, and the town doesn't need it. but we're not the only ones. laughter. you need some wellies! she'd abandoned her car to get to herjob in a local care home. after dropping a bit this afternoon, the water levels here

in tenbury wells are now starting to rise again. it is going to be another anxious night. jon kay, bbc news, worcestershire. let's hear from our correspondents around the country. we heard that that town in south wales has been badly hit and tomos morgan reports from nantgarw in south wales. i havejust been in the hairdressers behind me. it is completely ruined inside there. this car behind me, i just spoke to the resident who owns this car. it's brand—new. less than six months old and it's probably going to be completely replaced. the water is at waist height and probably higher in the middle—of—the—road as it dips down slightly the further you go, residents were saying what probably happened is that the rivers on the banks further up have come down here and from the sideways with the river is, it has also not

been able to escape anywhere, so it is almost created a flood plain here, completely submerging the flooding and all of these houses here. as you can see, there's still a foot of water in the middle—of—the—road but on wednesday, this road was pretty much just a river with water gushing and i've seen a number of videos from residents who live here on their phones to showjust how violent it was in one state early in the morning, around 5am when they got that flood alert through on their phone and they knew they had to go to safety, taking their dogs, any posesions that meant anything to them upstairs away from the water as it was all kind of ruined really by storm dennis. now, the rescue operation here in most places in wales is now come to an end and most people have gotten to safety, butthe clean—up operation is just beginning and from what i've seen and from what you can see here, it is going to take quite some time.

tomos morgan there. the town of hawick has been hit by severe flooding as storm dennis passed across scotland. alexandra mackenzie has spent the day there. it has been a horrible day here, now last night, three rivers in the borders reached record levels causing flooding. the river behind me is still looking very angry this evening and as we came into hawick earlier, we could see that many of the fields surrounding the town were completely saturated and that and in many of the villages around here, people have been evacuated from their properties and some homes and some businesses have been flooded. now, the council has set up an emergency planning bunker, and they have been involved in the clear up process today. but that is not the end of the weather story

here in scotland as you see, it does look very windy here tonight, and there is a yellow wet weather warning, a yellow wind warning in place for the whole of scotland tonight, and that will last until around 11am tomorrow morning. that was alexander mackenzie. —— alexandra mckenzie. fiona trott reports from york, where water levels have already risen in the city. well, parts of the city are already flooded. somewhere under there is a footpath in the river 0use behind me is expected to peak early on tuesday. so, the city council has put the flood plan into place. floodgates along the river are close. the foss barrier is in operation to stop any water from the 0use backing up into the foss, as you know, the army has already been out to distribute hundreds of sandbags but the environment agency says any flooding will not be as severe as it was back in 2000, that's what they're expecting. that was when it was at its highest level ever recorded. 33 flood warnings in place at the moment in north yorkshire, eight in around york itself, so really, this evening, it's all about preparation.

people being told to protect their properties and monitor the situation over the next 2a hours. that was fiona trott in the city of york. and for the latest information on storm dennis in your area — just go to your local bbc 0nline pages or tune into bbc local radio. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10.30 and 11.30 this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are rob merrick, the deputy political editor at the independent, and ruth lea, who's an economics adviser for the arbuthnot banking group. further tributes have been paid to caroline flack, the tv presenter, who was found dead at her home yesterday. herfamily‘s lawyer said that she had taken her own life.

laura whitmore, who succeeded caroline, as presenter of love island, criticised newspapers and social media users, over their treatment of her friend. caroline flack had been due to stand trial next month, for assaulting her boyfriend — a charge she denied. itv has also announced that tonight's edition of love island will not be aired. this report from angus crawford contains flash photography. it's the return of the flack! love island, x factor, i'm a celebrity — caroline flack, a life which appeared successful and glamorous. let's talk love. until december last year, when she was arrested and charged with assaulting her boyfriend. yesterday, her family confirmed she'd taken her own life. today, friend and fellow presenter laura whitmore, who replaces her on love island, could not hide her grief and anger. anyone who knew caroline knew

she was vivacious, loving, and had a passion for life. to the press, the newspapers who create click—bait, who demonise and tear down success, we've had enough. you don't have to tear down someone to feel good about yourself. there have been many other tributes from friends, fans and fellow celebrities. a media scrum at her first court appearance, distressing allegations that she denied, a trial date in march and bail conditions banning any contact with her boyfriend, lewis burton. he denied being a victim and didn't want the prosecution to go ahead. today, he posted this message... he also appeared to criticise the way the case was handled, saying... questions, too, from her management,

who labelled it a "show trial". the crown prosecution service says it won't comment. as for love island, itv have dropped tonight's episode but it will be back tomorrow and include a tribute to the former presenter. weeks before her death, she wrote of the weight of media intrusion, saying... and if you're affected by any of the issues in our report, information and support is available from bbc action line, and there's the number for you on the screen now. the headlines on bbc news... south wales police have declared flooding and landslides caused by storm dennis a major incident.

heavy rain and strong winds continue to lash large parts of the uk. itv says it's devastated by the death of love island presenter, caroline flack. the broadcaster says tonight's episode of the reality series won't be aired. thousands of passengers face major disruption at heathrow airport after a systems failure affects all terminals. the airport says its experiencing technical problems. further restrictions have been imposed on people living in hubei province in china — the area at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. the area at the centre only one person from each household will be allowed out every 3 days. meanwhile, british passengers who've been quarantined on a cruise liner offjapan, have criticised the uk government — after the us sent two aircraft to bring home american citizens. there are now 355 cases

of coronavirus on the ship. from yokohama, rupert wingfield—hayes reports. now calling only those american guests from emerald deck... for the americans, at least this is the moment that for many could not come soon enough. 0n the dockside, the buses lining up, ready to take them to tokyo airport and an evacuation flight home. in the last two days, there has been a steady stream of ambulances removing infected passengers from the diamond princess. 70 new cases were confirmed aboard the ship today alone. when i got through to americans gaye and phil courter in their cabin, they were frantically packing, more than eager to get off the ship. saying from day one, i do not feel safe on this ship. i don't know how more of us who have been sitting here for 12 days aren't getting contaminated, but something is going wrong. this is a failed quarantine.

it is very clear from the statement that the us government has made that it is worried the quarantine on board the ship is not working and that its citizens are in danger. and that's why it has decided to take them off. several other governments have now followed, including canada, hong kong and taiwan. so the pressure is really now on the british government to make a response. united kingdom... from his cabin, britain david abel has been using social media to express his feelings at the british government's perceived lack of action. it feels that we have been forgotten, that you don't really care about us and that you're actually not wanting us to come home. at tokyo's haneda airport tonight, the us chartered planes touched down. the american evacuees now face a grueling flight and another quarantine. but those we spoke to say they prefer that to spending another day on a ship

where they do not feel safe. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in yokohama. joining us now is dr nathalie macdermott, a clinical lecturer from king's college, thank you forjoining us on bbc news. what should we read from the fa ct news. what should we read from the fact that the numbers of cases in china seem to be dropping or slowing down perhaps? there certainly seems over the last few days to be a consistent decrease in the daily number of new cases which is reassuring and it is substantially lower than it was a couple of weeks ago. so hopefully this is an indication that the measures the chinese authorities have put in place are actually having an effect. but what we have to be wary of is what is happening outside of china as well. there are several countries demonstrating ongoing person—to—person transmission of the virus without any people having

travelled. how would you describe the pattern of the cases we are seeing outside of china? so, in singapore and injapan for instance and injapan i am ignoring the cruise ship that is more off the coast because it is not fair to include that in eightjapan case count that we are seeing cases of transmission and clusters of transmission and clusters of transmission that have started in both of those countries where the source of those clusters is unclear so source of those clusters is unclear so it is not necessarily someone that has travelled and they are showing ongoing human to human transmission chains from those clusters. it suggests there is now a problem in japan and clusters. it suggests there is now a problem injapan and singapore as well. what would you expect to see happen next? i think we are hopefully going to continue seeing things decrease in china. although it is possibly still a little bit early to tell. we may see a

secondary early to tell. we may see a secondary surge. early to tell. we may see a secondary surge. but it might be that we do see case numbers drop in china and therefore the overall total increase in daily numbers goes down but we might then see a second research because what we are seeing happening in other countries such as singapore and japan. what is the risk or likelihood of a coronavirus mutating to full—blown flu? risk or likelihood of a coronavirus mutating to full-blown flu? the coronavirus is a very different virus to influenza, it won't ever become influenza. but the symptoms it causes are pretty much the same as influenza only it goes on to also cause a viral pneumonia or an inflammation in the lungs. in more severe cases as well. so it will not ever mutate to become influenza. it may mutate by whether it mutates or not does not necessarily affect its function. it could do but it may not as well. in terms of the prevention

measures we have seen put as well. in terms of the prevention measures we have seen put in place, are they enough? so, i think that the prevention measures that china have put in place are fairly dramatic and they do appear to be having an effect at the moment but time will tell as to whether the measures have been sufficient. i think what is in place here in the uk so far seems to be doing very well. we don't have any ongoing person—to—person transmission in the uk. we have had nine cases, eight of whom are now healthy and released from hospital and no longer a risk to the public. it is just a matter of us continuing to monitor anyone who travels into the uk or any cases 01’ who travels into the uk or any cases or contacts of cases in the uk and making sure that we are able to isolate them promptly, test them, and treat them if they are unwell. and the status of developing a vaccine, when are we likely to see something like that? a vaccine is probably still quite a long way off

even though there is some potential candidates that have been identified, they are just very much in the early stages of going through animal testing and then willie will also progress twos human safety trials. but that will take several mus to complete facade —— we will. nathalie macdermott, think of much indeed. you're watching bbc news. thousands of passengers are facing major disruption at heathrow airport, after a systems failure affecting all terminals. travellers described the situation as "chaos", with departure screens not working — and no announcements, leaving people unsure where to go to catch their flights. the airport have said, they're experiencing technical problems, and have deployed "passenger ambassadors", to show people to their gates, but it's not yet known when the problems will be resolved.

let us get the latest on this. i am joined by katie austen. you have been following the story for us. what is the latest? it seems to be a confusing situation for passengers. the latest from heathrow as they are trying to resolve this technical issue which has affected some of its check—in points as well as those departure screens when we go to the airport we rely on when to go to my gate, which one is my gate. the site of the photos showing all this information written out by hand on whiteboards has not been particularly reassuring for path centres but heathrow say they have extra staff and to help passengers and try to direct into the right gates. —— reassuring for passengers. there has been an impact, things have been moving slowly through the airport. reports some people have missed their fights but british airways has also got in touch with me to say that as a result of this on top of what was already a very

difficult situation because of the stormy weather, there were already delays and cancellations because of that as a consequence of this it problem as well it will be cancelling about 20 flights this evening. there is a short—haul flight evening. there is a short—haul flight and says passengers will get help from ba and get hotels where appropriate. this will be a frustrating weekend, and of the weekend rather for ross a pastor some of whom might‘ve already had destruction because of the weather. you've described how wide of the information is being handwritten on whiteboards. many people looking at that will be seeking reassurance that will be seeking reassurance that it that will be seeking reassurance thatitis that will be seeking reassurance that it is not the air traffic control system that has been affected, can you just clarify exactly which systems are affected by this? i did specifically ask heathrow if air traffic control had been effective, and they categorically set it hadn't been. you get all those rumours on social media but i have been told air traffic control has not been affected, i have no complete with from the airport but they check—in

is one example, some people have at issues with credit card machines but clearly it is the technical things that keep an airport flowing getting through security quickly, getting checked in quickly and any delay at an airport especially one as big and busy as heathrow will inevitably have a knock on effect and i imagine will cause a bit of a backlog. we don't know when this will be fixed. any indication from the airport themselves? the earliest indication was that it was still being resolved and they said what was being described as manual contingency processes a re described as manual contingency processes are in place, to you and i thatis processes are in place, to you and i that is things being done by hand by people rather than that what we are used to seeing nowadays on it screens thomas all the information. we will leave it there for now. katy austin, thank you for all the information. we are going to speak now to sam mills, apa passenger, british airways passengers who fears he has missed his flight back home to pittsburgh in the states, and sam joins us life from a queue where he

is hoping or was hoping. have you missed your flight, sam? excuse me it does appear that unfortunately the flight departed about an hour and a half ago without any medication to me that was going to be the case. take us through your story then. you got to the airport and then what happened?” story then. you got to the airport and then what happened? i arrived initially in the baggage trays were not working to the belt to the backs to the planes so they had to put my back behind me at about one p.m. to the planes so they had to put my back behind me at about one pm. and i got through security relatively quickly and arriving and the flight board not updating, 2pm onwards i was continually getting delayed. no gate information for my flight, and then unfortunately i was asking a ba representative, they told me not to worry, and i checked the flight every five minutes or so to make sure the gate hadn't popped up. as soon sure the gate hadn't popped up. as soon as sure the gate hadn't popped up. as soon as it popped up, it said that it had been moved out at that point. what is that we view now? can you be

put on another fight or are you stranded? as of right now u nfortu nately i stranded? as of right now unfortunately i am stranded. there isa unfortunately i am stranded. there is a line through and defeat this way and in both directions of people waiting for the line at british airways service desk. the light has not moved in about half an hour and we have all been standing here now with no communication from british airways whatsoever... and in terms of things like food and water and keeping yourself up, have you got access to that or the staff helping you with any of that? this has been a point of discontent among so out of the passengers around me that we have not been given any information, nobody from british airways going up and down the line, we are apprehensive to leave the line to get anything to eat and drink... i'm frustrated with losing my place in the line and having to go back two or three hours back to the end of the line. had the extra investors as we have heard about been able to tell you when things will be able to

be fixed? -- extra ambassadors? we have not been told anything from anyone from pitch airways. and it is not spilt over... what is your plan? i will wait not spilt over... what is your plan? iwill wait in not spilt over... what is your plan? i will wait in this line to see once i get to the desk before... and see what kind of accommodation they can provide and find my way home as quickly as possible. sam mills, we will leave it there for now and good but with your homeward journey. hopefully that will take place soon. thank you. the government's forthcoming budget may be delayed, according to a cabinet minister. it was due to be held on march 11th, but that date has been thrown into doubt, after sajid javid resigned as chancellor on thursday. he was replaced by rishi sunak. the transport secretary, grant shapps said the new chancellor would decide the date. the transport secretary grant shapps has denied holding any talks with china about building the hs2 high speed rail line. it's reported the china railway

construction corporation wrote to hs2 limited last month, saying it could complete the project faster and more cheaply than current plans. mr shapps was speaking on the andrew marr show earlier: i think what has happened is they have had a letter sent to hs2 limited. there has been no conversation to me as minister or secretary of state. i have to say by the way i want to get this thing built faster if it is possible. if you have a conversation, but i think the idea is when you look at what is required and what needs to be late and so on and so forth, it is an enormous project. you were not billed in five years. —— you will not build it in five years. sir eltonjohn has been forced to cut short a concert in new zealand, after falling ill with walking