The flooding in the North of England continues to lead the news as Army personnel assist with the evacuation and construction of temporary flood defences.
Flooding
All news outlets report on the Boxing Day floods, saying that the UK has been hit by the worst floods in decades. The reports say that more than 360 flood alerts were issued across country, with 27 severe flood warnings issued for northern England after forecasters warn up to a month's worth of rain is set to fall on areas that already saturated. The Sunday Mirror reports that hundreds of troops were dispatched in the north west as floods forced thousands to be evacuated, turning streets into rivers and reducing home owners to tears. The Independent on Sunday writes that the Government has held its second emergency COBRA meeting in two days to help coordinate the rescue operation, and the PM expected to cut short his festive break to visit the worst affected areas of Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire. Environment Secretary Liz Truss paid tribute to emergency staff working over Christmas and attempts to assure people affected the Government is "doing everything it could to help communities to recover".
Yesterday, we blogged about the military’s latest contribution to flooding relief. This morning the Commanding Officer of 2 Lancs has been interviewed by BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Breakfast and Forces TV about the Army’s support.
Tornado jets fighting Daesh
The Sun on Sunday reports that RAF jets are ‘smashing IS targets’ with the help of 3D TV pictures. The paper claims that HI tech Raptor cameras on Tornado jets capture crucial detail about enemy positions, movements and vehicles, and are relayed to secret hub where analysts pore over images.
You can read about the latest air strikes against Daesh on our website here.
Armed Forces Royal Christmas Message
The Sunday Express says the Prince of Wales has paid tribute to the great "personal sacrifice" of Britain's servicemen and women in a Christmas message to the Armed Forces. Delivering the address to Forces TV and BFBS Radio, the paper reports that the Prince said service personnel will face many challenging tasks over the festive period, some of which will "put our service people in great danger as they carry out their challenging duties". He said: "I am delighted to have this opportunity to send you all a Christmas message, for while many of the current news headlines around the world appear rather grim, they have reminded us all of the vital importance of the armed forces. Sometimes it would appear that there is no real threat facing Britain and that therefore defence can perhaps seem somewhat irrelevant. However, the extent of current global deployments of the UK's armed forces only goes to highlight the continued, essential role of the armed forces in today's society."
Follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to sign up for email alerts.