Section:GDN 1N PaGe:7 Edition Date:190801 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 31/7/2019 19:26 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
Thursday 1 August 2019 The Guardian •
National^7
Cleanup under way after downpours
cause devastation in Yorkshire Dales
Aamna Mohdin
A clean-up has started in Yorkshire
Dales villages inundated with silt
and mud after severe downpours led
to fl ooding.
Witnesses described rain sweeping
in off hillsides in waterfalls, “blowing”
riverbanks and devastating infrastruc-
ture. Local people wore wet-weather
gear as they cleared pools of water in
the hamlet of Fremington , near Reeth
and Grinton , in North Yorkshire.
One resident, Rowena Hutchinson,
75 , said she almost drowned when
water up to her chin gushed into her
pub, the Red Lion Inn, in Langthwaite,
Richmond, North Yorkshire.
She said the torrential rain
“completely smashed doors off , and
a wall has gone. The speed and force
of the water was unbelievable .”
As of 4pm on yesterday, the Envi-
ronment Agency had issued 11 fl ood
warnings, which advised imme-
diate action owing to expected
fl ooding, across parts of Cheshire,
the hillside and it started to rain a
little, then within minutes it was this
astonishing downpour.
“People’s gardens are covered in
silt and mud, their lawns don’t exist
any more. The farmers – the hay that
they’ve just taken and baled up has
been strewn everywhere, so that will
be written off. I guess livestock has
been lost .”
Commuters faced chaos yesterday
morning as heavy rain fl ooded the rail-
way between Manchester Piccadilly
and Crewe/Stoke- on-Trent, causing
both lines to be blocked. Northern
Rail said trains had been suspended
between Ribblehead and Kirkby
Stephen after a landslip between Dent
and Ribblehead.
Train services between Salford
Crescent and Wigan Wallgate have
been forced to run at reduced speed,
and commuters were told to expect
delays and cancellations.
In Manchester, an airport road, the
A555, was closed for the third day in
a row because of heavy rain. Traffi c
England issued fl ooding alerts on
the A5103 northbound between the
M56 and junction with the M60, and
warned drivers of congestion caused
by fl ooding on the M56 eastbound
between junctions J7 and J3A.
The Met Office issued weather
warnings for Scotland and parts of
central and northern England. Up
to 40mm of rain in two hours was
predicted in places.Northern Irish woman ordered
to trace £3.2m used to buy homes
Rupert Neate
A Northern Irish woman accused of
having links to paramilitary criminals
has been ordered to explain how she
bought six properties worth £3.2 m.
The National Crime Agency (NCA)
said the woman is believed to be
associated with criminals involved
in paramilitary activity a nd cigarette
smuggling gangs and is at the centre of
an investigation into funds used to buy
four properties in London and two in
Northern Ireland. The property empire
could be seized if the woman fails to
provide evidence of the legitimate
funds used to buy the homes under
a unexplained wealth order (UWO).UWOs, which have been nick-
named McMafi a laws after the BBC
drama, are a new tool to help investi-
gators crack down on the £90bn tide
of “dirty money” fl ooding into London
by forcing suspected corrupt govern-
ment-linked offi cials to prove their
wealth is legitimate.
The first UWO was targeted at
Zamira Hajieva, the wife of a Azerbai-
jani banker jailed for fraud. Hajiyeva
is the subject to two orders on £22m
worth of UK properties, including a
£11.5m house in Knightsbridge. The
court heard that Hajiyeva spent £16.3m
at Harrods between 2006 and 2016.Her Harrods spending receipts
reveal the 55-year-old treated the store
in Knightsbridge, London, like a cor-
ner shop, popping in for £24,000 worth
of tea and coff ee, spending £10,000 on
fruit and veg, and £32,000 on Godiva
chocolates. She also splashed out
£4.9m on jewellery and £300,000 on
French couture.
Sarah Pritchard , director of the
National Economic Crime Centre, said:
“We prioritise the cases which have the
biggest impact on tackling serious and
organised economic crime. Criminally
obtained assets undermine the integ-
rity of the UK’s institutions. ”Derbyshire, Greater Manchester and
Leicestershire.
A further 27 fl ood alerts were issued
across central, north-west and north-
east England warning residents to
prepare for possible fl ooding.
The fi re service said it had received
115 calls about fl ooding in Leyburn and
Reeth on Tuesday evening. A bridge in
nearby Cogden Gill, which was used in
the 2014 Tour de France, lay in ruins
after fl oods swept parts of it away.
Wilf Bishop, 77, from Reeth, said:
“We’d just got back from a walk onNewcastleCardiffYorkBirminghamManchesterCreweLondonWales EnglandScotlandPeterboroughReeth82.2mm of rain
at Malham TarnLandslip near
Ribblehead100 miles100 kmFlood warnings and alerts in England yesterdaySource: Environment Agency. Warnings and alerts in force at 4.30pm- Warnings • Alerts
Manchester airport
link road entirely
submergedAndy Lewis, head of asset denial at
the NCA, said: “This is the fourth case
in which we have obtained a UWO. Our
investigations involve careful consid-
eration before we make an application
before the court.
“We do not investigate illicit fi nance
based on monetary value alone. This
order shows that we will act against
those who we believe are causing the
most harm to our communities.”
The high court has granted interim
freezing orders on the properties
blocking the woman from selling or
transferring them until the end of the
investigation.▲ Rowena Hutchinson surveys her pub in Langthwaite,
where she nearly drowned in water up to her chin. Below:
muddy roads in nearby Grinton PHOTOGRAPHS: DANNY LAWSON/PA▲ Downpours
struck central
Manchester
yesterday,
adding to the
chaos on both
rail and road
PHOTOGRAPH:
JAMES SPEAKMAN/
MERCURY PRESS▼ A fl ash fl ood on Tuesday evening
swept away the bridge at Cogden Gill,
near Grinton, used in the 2014 Tour
de France PHOTOGRAPH: DANNY LAWSON/PAРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS