The Environment Agency has Flood Warnings in operation for the following areas: 2 Flood Warnings in North East England, 2 Flood Watch notices in North East England, 1 Flood Watch notice in Midlands.  The BBC News  website reports: "Heavy downpours in the Sheffield area have blocked roads and caused at least two school closures.  Flash floods in the North East of England have left schools closed, roads blocked and people needing to be rescued.  Eleven factory workers were rescued in Dronfield, North Derbyshire, where floodwaters cut their building off.  Sheffields transport system has been disrupted and parts of the supertram service were suspended.  South Yorkshire Fire Service received more than a dozen calls within half an hour late in the afternoon from people concerned about the flooding.  There was also flash flooding in parts of North and Mid Wales."

The Instant Sandbags team had the opportunity to prove their worth in a real life drama when they were called to assist when facilities at the BBC were suffering from flooding.

Our emergency team took a call recently from the production office at the BBC.  They were preparing to shoot an episode of Watchdog with a live audience but were having serious problems with floodwater entering an area of the production.

Within an hour from the initial call, we had a team on-site at the studio where an eight metre long Instant Sandbag defence wall was speedily created. 

Having successfully defended the area against water the BBC production team were happy to report that Instant Sandbags definately lived up to it's name!

This event highlighted the dangers and completely random nature of the phenomena known as 'flash flooding'.  Where rainwater meets large areas of concrete, flooding is always a risk.