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Army may help flood-hit Somerset | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Army help for flood-hit Somerset is being discussed, the environment secretary has said. | |
Owen Paterson said the Ministry of Defence may "deploy specialist vehicles" to help flooded villages. | |
Mr Patterson, who has been chairing the Government's emergency Cobra committee, said: "We had a very constructive discussion with Somerset County Council - who have asked for assistance today." | |
He said: "Further bad weather is forecast in the coming days". | |
The Somerset Levels have been badly hit by flooding in recent weeks with villages such as Muchelney cut off for almost a month. | |
About 11,500 hectares (28,420 acres) of the Somerset Levels are flooded by about 65 million cubic metres of water. | |
Earlier, David Cameron announced during Prime Minister's Questions that the rivers in Somerset would be dredged as soon as water levels drop. | |
He said: "We are urgently exploring what further help the government can give to local residents to move around and will rule nothing out in the days ahead to get this problem sorted." | |
More to follow. | More to follow. |