Forecasters and flood defences under scrutiny after UK’s Storm Bert ordeal

Hundreds of properties flooded and Welsh town hit by landslip as major incident declared in Northamptonshire

Forecasters, environment officials and politicians have been strongly criticised over the warnings issued before Storm Bert and the fitness of flood defences to cope with increasingly common extreme weather.

A huge clear-up is under way across swathes of Wales and England, with hundreds of properties flooded and a former Welsh mining town hit by a landslip from a coal tip, leaving buildings deep in sludge and mud.