Environment Secretary George Eustice has insisted flood defences are working as he defended the prime minister's absence from affected areas.

As Storm Dennis lashed the country with 90mph winds and drenched some places with more than a month's worth of rain in 48 hours, major incidents due to flooding were declared in South Wales, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire.

As of 11am on Monday, more than 500 flood alerts and warnings covered much of England, stretching from the North West to the South West.

Cars swept away by severe flooding in Wales

Boris Johnson was not expected to visit flood-hit areas on Monday, while a meeting of the government's emergency committee COBRA has not been called.

This is despite the prime minister holding such meetings in response to severe flooding in Yorkshire and the East Midlands in November, during the general election campaign.


Mr Johnson was heckled during a visit to south Yorkshire in November, six days after the region was struck by major flooding.

Downing Street said the prime minister was being updated about events as he worked from Chevening, the country retreat usually used by the foreign secretary, during parliament's one-week break.

Mr Eustice, who was appointed to his role during last week's cabinet reshuffle, defended Mr Johnson's absence from affected areas.

He told Sky News' Kay Burley@Breakfast: "When I was appointed by the prime minister, one of the first things he mentioned was the floods.

"We discussed Storm Dennis, that it was coming through. I am leading on this.

"I'm in the cabinet, I was up there yesterday in Yorkshire. I've been in regular contact with officials on this."

November - 'Not happy about talking to you': Angry woman snubs PM

Stressing the government has a "firm grip" on the flooding, Mr Eustice added: "It's a very difficult situation, with widespread flood alerts, but our flood defences are working as intended."

Asked again why Mr Johnson had not yet been to see the impact of the flooding first-hand, Mr Eustice said: "Because I went up there yesterday on his behalf. He has been to these areas before, I'm sure he will again."

He highlighted the Conservatives' manifesto commitment to increase to spend £4bn over the next five years on flood defences, with £2.5bn having been spent in the last five years.

"In these recent flood events nearly 20,000 properties have been protected," Mr Eustice said.

"But I know that's no consolation at all to the 400 that have been affected.

"It is the case, when you have these events, you'll never be able to protect every single property.

"But the investments we've made mean we are able to protect a significant number."

He added: "There's a longer-term approach to how we manage floods.

'Mum was very stressed'

"We're going to be doing lots more work in terms of managing catchments upstream, so using natural floodplains, nature-based solutions that can actually slow the waterflow."

Labour's shadow environment secretary Luke Pollard described Mr Johnson's absence from flooding areas and the failure to convene COBRA as a "disgrace".

He said: "The prime minister was slow enough to act during the general election, but now he is not campaigning for votes he is completely missing in action."