Fresh 24-hour snow warning hits as 4 airports shut, hundreds of schools close & rivers burst banks amid ‘severe’ floods

A FRESH 24-hour snow warning has hit as four airports shut, hundreds of schools close and rivers burst their banks in a -13C cold snap.

Major incidents have been declared across the UK as the country is hit by snow, "severe" floods and freezing temperatures.

A yellow alert is in place across most of south-west England and Wales, coastal parts of North Wales and Merseyside and parts of north-west England and the West Midlands, until 10am on Tuesday.

The same warning is in place for western and northern parts of Scotland until midday and in Northern Ireland until 11am.

The weather service has now alerted much of Scotland can expect further alerts of snow and ice from midday today until midday on Wednesday.

Last night, temperatures of -13.3°C were recorded in Loch Glascarnoch in the Scottish Highlands.

A critical incident has also been declared by East Midlands Ambulance for the first time ever with flooding partly responsible for the "level of escalation";.

A major incident was declared by authorities in Lincolnshire on Monday night with a warning that more flooding could strike on Tuesday.

Lincolnshire Resilience Forum said 40 flood warnings and 29 flood alerts were in place across the county with reports of 62 properties "internally flooded".

A statement added: "We are keeping a really close watch on this as it develops because we know that there might potentially be more flooding, particularly in areas which may be affected by tidal waters."

It also said emergency services were on standby at Greatford, near Stamford, to monitor the West Glen River which it said threatened to inundate 49 properties in the area.

The Environment Agency has issued a severe, 'danger to life', flood warning for the River Soar covering caravan parks near Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire.

There are also 198 flood warnings and 300 flood alerts across England.

Commuters suffered travel misery on Monday with major roads closed and railway lines blocked.

Travel chaos continued this morning with four airports forced to close their runways.

Passengers set to jet off from Bristol, Liverpool John Lennon, Manchester and Aberdeen Airport were thrown into chaos as every flight was halted.

In a post online, Bristol Airport said: "Passenger announcement, due to the ongoing weather conditions all flights have been currently suspended until 7.30am, further announcements will be made once information is available."

Firefighters in Leicestershire rescued 59 people while the body of a man was recovered from an area of flooding in North Yorkshire.

Police said the man has been formally identified but efforts to trace his next of kin were ongoing.

The force added that there are currently no suspicious circumstances surrounding the discovery.

Trains have also been heavily impacted by the adverse weather today.

Flooding has caused all rail lines to closed between Peterborough and Leicester, affecting CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway services.

Northern has said a fault with the signalling system means no trains can run between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester airport.

Great Western Railway says flooding has closed the line between Liskeard and Looe in Cornwall.Show less

It comes after a seven-month-old baby also tragically died after a crash on the A1 on Friday.

At a Lincolnshire primary school, parents were told to stay away until the end of the day with fire brigade vehicles ready to carry children through floodwater.

Hundreds of schools were closed across the country, in areas including Lancashire, Yorkshire and north-east Scotland.

In the Commons, environment minister Emma Hardy told MPs flooding was "a personal priority"; for her.

She added that the Environment Agency was particularly concerned about Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire.

Warning of further "localised" flooding to come over the next 24 to 36 hours, she pledged to overhaul the Government's approach to funding flood defences.