Sunday, July 22, 2007


Jul. 22, 2007 (Xinhua News Agency delivered by Newstex) -- British ministers accused of bungling flood crisis

LONDON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was under pressure Saturday night as the government was condemned for failing tens of thousands of people affected by the latest flooding sweeping the country, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Ministers were accused of mishandling the crisis and doing little to ensure that areas were properly protected after three days of downpours, the Telegraph reported.

As the full extent of the latest flooding became clear Saturday night, swathes of Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Warwichshire and Lincolnshire were under water, the paper said.

A major operation rescued hundreds of people from their homes and vehicles and the Royal Air Force said it was its largest deployment of rescue helicopters in peacetime, it said.

'The government's failure to prevent these floods is an outrage,' said John Redwood, the Conservative member of the Parliament for Berkshire. 'Their response was appallingly lackadaisical. Ministers are nowhere to be seen.'

David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, said 'We have to make sure that the government response is coordinated properly, and we have got to make sure that the money is getting through.'

This was the second time in three weeks that the government faced criticism for failing to erect temporary flood defenses after deciding not to use them in Worcerster in June. A National Audit Office report has found 63 percent of flood defenses were badly maintained and more than 1 billion pounds (2 billion U.S. dollars) of defense spending did not reach areas most at risk.

Prime Minister Brown promised that the way transport and drainage coped with the downpours would be assessed. But he denied that the government had not done enough, pointing to a 200 million pound (400 million U.S. dollar) annual increase in flood risk management and defense spending, the paper reported.

Newstex ID: XIN-0001-18311971


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