let's get a look at the weather now, here is phil avery. hello, as expected, it turned out to be a day of sunny spells and some blustery showers, and some really quite heavy i had rumbles of thunder thrown in, and some hail as well, they are going to gradually fade away for the most pa rt going to gradually fade away for the most part during the course of the night. 1—2 most part during the course of the night. i—2just most part during the course of the night. 1—2 just lingering on. most part during the course of the night. i—2just lingering on. skies clearing out towards the east, and there will be a touch of frost, particularly so to the eastern side of scotla nd particularly so to the eastern side of scotland and across the sandy soils of eastern england as well. out west, i think you've got more in the way of breeze, just hoping to keep the temperatures up. eventually, more cloud ahead of this weather system, which will eventually spread cloudy and wind and rain. —— across western parts of the british isles. it will take a time. there will be early brightness evenin time. there will be early brightness even in the west, but it will link a very long. by lunch time, there will be moderate bursts of rain by mid

afternoon, the rain will be all over western england, through wales coming into the western side of scotland. driest for longest in the northeast of scotland and across eastern england to. hello. this is bbc news with me, rachel schofield. the headlines: 273 people in the uk have tested positive for coronavirus — that's up from 209 yesterday — according to latest figures. the foreign office is advising avoiding travel to certain areas in northern italy. 16 million people in northern italy are placed in quarantine for a month because of the virus. france spans crowds of over 1000 people under review contain the virus.

the prime minister meets victims of flooding, announces a doubling in flood defences funding, and defends not turning up when bewdley was under water. now on bbc news, in the wake of the worst flooding to hit parts of wales in a0 years, families and communities in the south wales valleys are struggling to get their lives back together after homes and businesses were left devastated. bbc wales investigates asks what price will we all have to pay to protect ourselves from extreme weather events in future — and who will pick up the bill? this was the morning after storm dennis hit the south wales valleys.

in one of the worst hit areas, scenes like this have not been seen for 60 years. the only thing i've managed to save is his medals from the war. i've lost everything. on the day he was meant to be celebrating his birthday, gordon matthews had to be rescued. we had plans, a birthday cake and everything for him to celebrate his 96th birthday. and it's all, well, his cake was floating round the kitchen. they live on the main road, parallel to the river taff, which had burst its banks. the front road was full of water. we came down and my dad was asleep, he sleeps downstairs because he moves around

in the night, and the water was already pouring in. and with that, it all started coming through the back door. within ten minutes, the whole house was full of four feet of water. it happened so quick, it was incredible. his grandsons, who were staying the night, carried him upstairs. the baywatch team have arrived! the speed of the water running down our road, it was terrifying. my dad now, he's just in total shock, he doesn't really understand the damage that's been done to the property. outside, the community has rallied. insides, gordon's daughters have tried to salvage his most precious possessions.

we managed to save this one of my sister. that's his marriage certificate to my mum, it's gone. that's his mother's bible that he kept, his mother was born in 18—something. that's all that is left of that, that was in perfect condition. he had little trinkets on here as well. i think that was a flower from a funeral. we're coming across things that even we didn't know he had, but we know he's kept it because it all mean something to him. i don't know what it will do to him when he realises what's gone. for now, gordon has to live with relatives until the house is ready.

around the corner, there's little to be kept at another couple's home. there had to save their daughter and her boyfriend from this annex in the garden. they woke around the same time, realising there was water, petrified, not knowing what to do, realising they had to get out but the water level was rising so quickly, they had to push the doors open against the water. by the time they got into the house, it was waist height, then anton was trying to get into the door and get them safe. she might have died if she was by herself. she would not have been able to open the doors, and the water was literally up to here, about there. i'm surprised everybody survived,

because the water came in so quick and we were surprised so quickly that people could have drowned. lives have been turned upside down in communities like this. the human cost is clear, but it could cost hundreds of millions of pounds to clear up and repair the damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure. but there were warnings that this was not going to be a one—off. this is the shape of things to come. so, just how prepared are we? recent rainfall levels have been described as unprecedented. in one week, we were lashed by two storms, breaking all previous records. but why was this area so badly affected?

when we get heavy rainfall events, it basically runs off those valley sides very quickly, into the rivers, so you get a rapid response, an instant response, almost, with river levels. so the flooding happens very quickly after rainfall events. professor liz bentley is a meteorologist and she has been studying how weather patterns have been dramatically changing. we're seeing climate change, a 1 degree warming over the past hundred years or so has seen a huge increase in rainfall. that will continue as temperatures continue to rise, so we're seeing more rain, heavier rainfall events. build the topography in and the steepness of the valleys, you're only going to see inevitably more extreme flooding. south wales is one of the worst affected areas in the country as storm dennis... two severe flood warnings are in place, meaning

there is a danger to life. that red alert prompted warning messages to householders who had signed up to receive texts from natural resources wales' floodline system. but in parts of nantgarw, something went wrong. we didn't have any warning. jesusjones! but we are all registered with floodline. no text messages to let us know. if they knew this was going to happen, we could have gone upstairs and maybe salvaged some stuff. susan fraser lives on this street with other members of her family. my mum phoned me about 4:30am and she said the street is starting to flood. no way! i looked downstairs and my settee was floating. was just like, oh,

settee was floating. wasjust like, oh, my settee was floating. was just like, oh, my god! next door, her sister tanya, her husband phil and their seven—year—old son were also hit. cleaning the kitchen, mopping the floor out now. the freezer, you should see. all my food is ruined. i'm devastated, absolutely devastated. i don't know where to start. i don't know what to do. like others we've met, the couple weren't insured against flooding. we had to take a loan out to refurbish the house, got it to where we wanted for our son, and now we are looking at another £25,000 to redo it.

throughout rhondda cynon taf, millions are being spent on reducing the risk of flooding. but there is anger that the warnings did not reach everyone. because it was the middle night, a lot of people were not made aware... who do you blame for that? we want a review of the warning system, we may look to do something ourselves if they don't look to change the system. residents came very close in some cases, they could have lost their lives. natural resources wales has been monitoring the recent storms. andy wall is their flood risk manager. what caused the severe flooding is the second pulse of rain on sunday night. would you agree the early warning system has not worked in some places? it is too early to say that.

we need to look into that. we need to look at when we issued the warnings. we will go on site and talk to residents and assess when flooding actually happened. but things can happen very quickly in the south wales valleys. we issued 89 flood warnings during this event, and the number of warnings were sent were over 100,000. lots of messages went out. a few days after our interview, nrw said flood warnings were issued but admitted some were later that they would have wished. and in this village near pontypridd, one of the council's own alert systems appears to have failed. you can see where the water line came up to. and everything on the lower units, all the way round, is completely gone. rachael and her partner have lived here forjust over a year. their home backs onto

a tributary of the river taff. it has come over here and hit the house. we have lost everything, everything. they thought they would be safe because of the flood defence wall behind their home and the siren which is meant to warn them of flooding. we had no prior warning. our warning was our neighbour saying we had been flooded. that was it, unfortunately. the whole row was hit. this is the water line, when i came down here, that is where the water was, that is how high it was. five foot, easy. it's just a fact you can't do nothing, you just have to leave it. mark's dog was trapped downstairs

and died before they could save her. i'm devastated. i haven't slept for two days. i'm afraid to go sleep knowing it can't do more damage now cos it's all done but i'm trying hard to go to sleep, you know. residents wanted to know why the siren hadn't worked. i'm not saying the alarm system is not a good thing to a certain extent, but it can't fail us like that. rct council told us it did inspect and clear the culvert the day before the storm but the alert system was overwhelmed by the unprecedented weatherfor a short time in the early hours. storm dennis didn'tjust bring flooding to the valleys. whoa! this footage of a landslide went viral. around 30,000 tonnes

of colliery waste and soil slid down the mountain. and since the storms, more slips have appeared. there are more than 1200 disused tips across wales — the majority in the south wales valleys. it's where geologist dr peter brabham was brought up. this is one of the most heavily mined areas in the world. there's something like 65 recorded coal mines in this area, and obviously the coal mines dumped colliery waste indiscriminately around the valley sides. post—aberfan, a lot of these tips have been dealt with, but there are one or two legacy tips still left lying around the valley sides. thankfully, with this one, there were no houses below the tip and it'sjust gone into the river. what warning signals does this send out to us? well, i think with these

heavy rain storm events, them tips which we deemed to be stable ten years ago, we have to factor in now much heavier rainfall and revaluate the stability to see what we can do about draining the tip. that's the primary factor here. on that point, we are going to have to go, i think — there's been another slip at cydach vale. news breaks of another landslip a few miles down the valley. it's behind the council's headquarters, and staff had been evacuated. the council leader was at the scene. there's been a small slip on the mountain behind the council, one of many we've had over the last few days, so as a precaution we've moved staff from one side of the site to the other while engineers assess if there's a risk. this is fairly minor but we do have a number of these across the county. in 1981, the south wales coal field was mapped out by the british geological survey. if new landslips are verified, it is updated, but dr brabham says

it's time for another full survey. now‘s the time to definitely re—evaluate where we are and using new technology that's like laser surveying, and do a re—evaluation of the valleys and identify these old tips and evaluate them all one by one. the council has inspected 43 tips since the storm and is monitoring this one around the clock. but it's notjust homes at risk from storm dennis. it tookjust a few hours to cause £3.5 million worth of damage to this car showroom in treforest. more than 250 vehicles were wrecked. it's one of around 500 businesses across the county to have been affected.

this was the main shopping street the morning after it flooded. the water has gone down now, but the aftermath is still being felt in this town. that means livelihoods and jobs are at serious risk. when we came in, it was total devastation. we've got riser recliner chairs, sofas, beds, heavy furniture all over the place, and as you can probably see, it's roughly about to four to five feet high, and that's throughout the building. the floor warping, it's utter devastation. have you been able to estimate yet how much stock you've lost and what the damage is? we've done a recent stocktake where we've lost about £80,000 in stock. now, the obvious question is what about insurance? insurance was due for renewal recently. the flood cover was removed by the insurance company so we've

had to renew with no flood cover. i'm not sleeping right at the moment, there's a lot of stress, a lot of worry. i've spent two years building up from nothing, it's a new business, and it's all gone. i'm gutted, devastated. rct council is giving flooded businesses £1,000 each to help get them back on their feet. the welsh government has promised £10 million towards emergency help but it's nowhere near enough. add up all the costs of the destruction in rct, and it's likely to run into hundreds of millions of pounds. a few days after the flooding, and things are worse than tanya first thought. we've been told that because of the contamination of the furniture, we have had to take up all the flooring. all my furniture has got to go —

my chairs, my furniture, my settee. everything i have worked hard for. myself and my husband, we both work. i am just heartbroken, absolutely heartbroken. just trying to make it safe for my boy to come home. i can't imagine what he will think coming in to no telly, no furniture to sit on. the council has given £500 to every home hit by flooding and an extra £500 for those not insured. while money helps with practicalities, forfamilies like sarah and anton‘s, it's the psychological damage that's hard to repair.

sunday night, it was raining and stormy, windy, and our daughters were too scared to go to sleep, saying, mum, what if it happens again? what if the floods come back? she had a panic attack in the shower yesterday because of the water. so she's going to need some help. but we will be ok. we will be ok. yeah. hello. carolyn is taking a call from the insurers. she and her dad gordon still can't move back home. i don't want to go into a hotel. where are these hotels? well, i do have to, because i have nowhere to stay. now they're saying there's one seven miles away, which isn't any good to me whatsoever because dad's got all his appointments, his hospital appointments.

i'm left with no vehicle to take him anywhere so i have asked for a caravan now in the garden. i just can't go miles away. i know. it's the dog as well. it's all my family, grandchildren — i won't be able to see any of them. and it's not good for dad, is it? the upheaval already has made him ill. he's not happy. i've been telling dad all week, it won't be long, dad, couple more days and you'll be in, you can be walking around upstairs. he was happy with that, and i've got go tell him now, no, that's not happening. we're homeless again. 96 years of age and homeless.

these are the consequences of extreme rainfall — last weekend saw the third storm to bring flooding in a fortnight. so, is wales about to get even wetter? the flooding that we've seen is a taster of what's to come. these used to be maybe one in 100 year events, one in a generation events. now they're happening probably once every five years, they're happening on a much more frequent basis. and that frequency will probably continue to increase as we go forward in time. but governments were warned to be prepared for the worst in a report on climate change four years ago. we saw the flooding event of 2015. this report talks about, generally, rainfall, extreme rainfall events could be 20% to 30% above what we saw in those

extreme flooding events. but you take the topograhpical effects here in south wales, the steep valley sides, all that rainfall coming down the valleys, you can probably put another 10% or 20% on top of that, particularly when you're talking about flooding levels. so that's an increase of perhaps 40% on top of what we were seeing in 2014/15? that's right. so, you're talking about nearly 40% to 50% increase in the amount of water that's coming down the valleys into these river flows, compared to what you've seen in some extreme weather events at the end of 2015. that should ring a lot of alarm bells in political circles. the evidence is here and now, the report was talking about the future. we are seeing that being played out in reality. in 2016, the westminster government indicated it would respond to this report with increased funding. so, what happened in wales? environment minister lesley griffiths has seen the damage caused

by heavy rain for herself. what did you do, given that report in 2016 about higher than expected rainfall? well, i can only talk about the schemes that we've got in place now and the ones that are in the pipeline. we have made it a priority. we've declared a climate emergency. it's really important that everybody recognizes that these sorts of events are going to get more frequent because of the impact of climate change. the landslip we saw in tylorstown hadn't been predicted. the last major survey was in the 1980s. isn't it about time, given what happened, given the increasing rainfall, we had another urgent major survey? well, the first minister met with the secretary of state for wales on monday, where this was discussed. i wasn't at the meeting, unfortunately, but obviously this is something that is having a priority at the moment. the warnings were there about increased weather patterns and about more regular rainfall. have we been a bit too complacent?

no, we've spent a great deal of money and prioritized mitigations. and we will continue to fund flood alleviation schemes and continue to ensure we have them in the pipeline. we need to get them out as quickly as possible, and also when we've got our strategy in place, by spring this year, we'll be able to look and make sure our investment is in the correct places. but those hardest hit by the floods want action, not words. families like the komduurs face months of uncertainty as they try to rebuild their lives, and their homes. tanya's son alfie is finally home. he was shocked. as soon as he walked through the door, it was like, ok. then he said, mum, is this how you've been living? and i was like, it was a lot worse than what you can see now. until their house dries out, they‘ re living upstairs and going to tanya's mums for meals.

susan's insurers have given her a caravan while her house is being repaired. this is my new home for the next six months anyway. you need to be positive, i always think, because it will only bring you down otherswise. there's somebody in worse position. i've got a home, i can go back to it, i've got my family. we are just thankful we've got each other anyway. and for gordon, who had to be carried out of his street, a temporary home in the garden may be his only option too. his daughters aren't sure he'll cope. he's still very much in shock, asking for books, cassettes, and of course they're ruined and they're all gone. and i haven't got the heart to tell him that.

i don't know whether he will actually get over this when he realises what's gone from that room. at his age now, and he's frail, ijust think he will give up because he'sjust lost his little world of treasures in there. i can't see him getting over it. the community may have weathered this storm for now, but as new ones appear on the horizon, it's clear there's got to be change if we're to prevent further misery. hello. as expected, it turned out to bea hello. as expected, it turned out to be a day sunny spells and blustery

showers, some of them really quite heavy. the odd rumble of thunder thrown in and some hail as well. they're going to gradually failed away during the course of the night, one 01’ away during the course of the night, one or twojust lingering away during the course of the night, one or two just lingering on. away during the course of the night, one or twojust lingering on. skies clearing out towards the east and there will be a touch of frost, particular on the eastern side of scotland. out west, i think you've got more in the way of breeze there, just happy to keep the temperatures up, and eventually or cloud ahead of this weather system which will eventually spread cloud and wind and rain across western parts of the bridge isles. it will take some time. there will be early brightness evenin time. there will be early brightness even in the west but it won't linger very long. at there lunchtime, will be some moderate bursts of rain across northern ireland. you stay driest along the northeast of scotla nd driest along the northeast of scotland and across the eastern england too.

this is bbc world news today. i'm karin giannone. our top stories... italy sees a huge rise in coronavirus deaths — 100 and 30 more are reported injust 2a hours. it comes as the worst hit regions in the north try and restrict the movements of 16 million people. you can see just how empty it is. the coronavirus measures and fear have hit every part of society. and in sport, united win the manchester derby — beating city for the third time this season.