defense minister philip hammond bearing the brunt of one woman's anger on tuesday. >> not one environment agents -- they are in an office. they have no idea. we need the army. we said it yesterday. you don't say it seriously. what will it take for you to understand we are seriously in need? >> around 1600 troops have now been deployed to fill and distribute sandbags. insurers estimate they will be hit with more than a billion euros worth of claims. rail services have also been severely disrupted. >> here in france, the winter sales have finally come to an end. in that strange quirk of the french retail industry, stores can sell at a loss just twice a year. results on how shoppers that this time a -- this time around the mix. the christ -- prices and poor weather partly to blame but also changes in the way stores are selling their goods. cooler start to the year for french consumers. winter sales, which just ended, were disappointing. if sales have lost some of their charm, it is due to private sales and other exclusive offers. in addition to a decrease in consumer spending. >> quality of

philip hammond, the defence secretary was here in race brie. he has been criticised. people are wondering why it took so long. the opposition leader was heckled by people saying, "you are coming for a photo opportuni opportunity, you are not doing enough to april our concerns", a lot of people want to know if it happens against what, will happen. the government promises grants for people to try to restore homes that have been affected. a lot of questions are arrived about where the money will come from. >> let's get an update on the weather with richard. people telling nadine that they are concerned how much worse this will get. how much worse will it get? >> a lot worse. there's two major storms on the way in. you can blame whomever you like. that's the bottom line. wettest winter in 248 years. when i made the graphic i wondered if it was right. i looked at the stats from the met office. there's more than 20-odd days to go until the end of the month, yet we have broken the record going back to 1915. it's inevitable there'll be problems and rem rimations. >> -- rech r