Flooding: Military Ride To Rescue In Somerset

Military planners and the Red Cross have swung into action to bring help to areas of the UK hit by severe flooding.

Service personnel on the ground told Sky News that they were assessing the situation, and seeing what practical help they can given to residents.

The Red Cross has also sent the 7.5-tonne Unimog, an emergency supply vehicle capable of driving through deep floodwater, which has also been used to help people stranded on the Somerset Levels after nearly a month of flooding.

Earlier, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said specialist Army vehicles could be drafted in to help tackle the flooding, delivering food and sandbags and transporting people.

His intervention came after David Cameron said rapid action is needed to deal with floodwaters in the Somerset Levels and promised the dredging of rivers would begin as soon as water levels were reduced to a safe level.

And he told MPs he would "rule nothing out" in dealing with the situation as the Government's emergency Cobra committee met again to discuss ways to ease the situation.

Parts of the Somerset Levels have been flooded since Christmas

Mr Paterson said: "The Ministry of Defence and the Department for Local Government are discussing how we could deploy specialist vehicles which could help some of those villages which have been cut off, to help people travel backwards and forwards, to get fuel and food in and out, and to help with transport from dry land.

"And secondly, there will also be help with sand bags which could help prevent further flooding."

Mr Paterson said the county council asked for assistance "for the first time today" and echoed the Prime Minister's assertions that dredging would take place as soon as it is safe.

The British Red Cross has sent a Unimog supply vehicle to the affected area

Farmers, politicians and church leaders have demanded immediate action to alleviate what furious residents describe as "Third World" conditions.

Many parts of the Levels have been flooded since Christmas and there are fears it could be months before the water is completely pumped away.

Drainage experts blame two decades of under-investment in flood defence work for turning the Levels into a "disaster area" and said it was "very, very urgent" that rivers are dredged to prevent more damage to homes, livelihoods and wildlife.

The Environment Agency has come under fire from MPs and local councils, but insists that increased dredging of the rivers would not have prevented the recent flooding and was "often not the best long-term or economic solution".

Sky's Kay Burley tweeted this picture of the road to Muchelney in Somerset

Flood victims had become so desperate that Somerset County Council leader John Osman said the authority had been prepared to place its own order for amphibious vehicles out of public funds.

Flood warnings in place across the UK

He added that some residents were being forced to pay insurance excesses of up to £35,000 in some of the worst-hit areas.

The Environment Agency has issued 28 flood warnings - where flooding is expected and immediate action required - mostly in the Southwest and Midlands. Another 162 flood alerts are also in place.

With heavy rain forecast, Sky's weather presenter Isobel Lang said Somerset is particularly at risk of further flooding given the low-lying nature of the Somerset Levels and Moors, and that the rain will probably be heaviest in the west.

:: Watch Sky News for special coverage from Somerset, live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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