致命风暴袭击英国

AS IT IS 2015-12-09 Deaths, Damage As Storm Hits Great Britain 致命风暴袭击英国

Two people died. Roads and highways are closed. Homes are without power. And travelers are stranded² in Great Britain because of record rainfall.

The rain set records and affected³ the northern part of England and Scotland. The national weather service issued a “red” alert for rain in the area. Red is the highest alert.

In some areas, water reached above the doors of parked cars.

The Reuters news agency says two people died because of the flooding.

The head of Britain’s Environment Agency called the weather “unprecedented⁴.” 

Most of the region received between 200 to 300 millimeters of rain over the weekend, according to the U.K.’s National Weather Service.

Honister Pass, an area north of Manchester in the Lake District, received 341 millimeters of rain on December 5. That set a record for 24 hours.

The weather office says severe weather may continue into the week.

The head of the Environment Agency told BBC Radio "from time to time nature will throw things at us which will overwhelm the system, and I think that is what happened here."

Extreme rainy weather is not only affecting the northern hemisphere. The city of Chennai in southern India also received over 300 millimeters of rain in 24 hours last week.

The rain emergencies came at the same time world leaders are meeting in France to discuss climate change at the COP21 convention.

One climate change expert from the United Kingdom’s office of the World Wildlife Fund told the BBC “storm Desmond is the sort of storm that we will see more of over the coming decades if we fail to tackle climate change.”

In Malham, water flowed over the cliffs for the first time in memory for many residents. It is the country’s tallest active waterfall – at just over 70 meters.

Words in This Story

alert – n. the state of being ready for something you have been warned about (such as an attack)

overwhelm – v. to affect (someone) very strongly

strand¹ – v. to leave (a person or animal) in a place without a way of leaving it — usually used as (be) stranded

tackle – v. to deal with something difficult

unprecedented – adj. not done or experienced before

1 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

2 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。