Dog swept away in river torrent as storms hit

A search is under way for a dog who was swept away when she jumped into a higher than usual river.

Her owner, AJ Abrar, had to be rescued by emergency services when he went into the water to help four-year-old Bonnie at Arrow Country Park in Redditch, Worcestershire, on Wednesday. He had managed to catch hold of her but had to let her go to save himself, he said.

Heavy rain affected parts of the West Midlands this week, with several flood alerts issued and rivers higher than usual. On Friday, homes and businesses in Herefordshire were affected by flooding.

Rail services have been disrupted and seven schools in Herefordshire shut.

Mr Abrar said he had managed to cling on to a large log in the river but had been eventually forced to let go of the dog to stop himself from drowning.

Mix-breed Bonnie was a strong swimmer, he said, and had often jumped in the river there to chase sticks he threw when the water levels were lower.

A passer-by rang the emergency services who helped him out and he said a search team was planning to help him look for his missing dog over the weekend.

"We're going to go look for a body, or anything, whatever we can find, and start searching until we can bring her home," he said.

People were out searching on Friday, and were trying not to lose hope, he said.

"She was an amazing dog, she was a TikTok star."

He said an account featuring her, external had accumulated more than 3,500 followers.

In Ewyas Harold, in Herefordshire, flood water has been filmed flowing through the streets and into homes.

Gino Fulgoni, the landlord of the local pub, described the scenes as "upsetting".

He said people in the town were frustrated that this had happened again and some people had only just cleaned up after last year's flood.

Mr Fulgoni added: "It's just not fair that there are businesses that go through their whole trading life and they don't have to deal with this and we deal with it on a yearly basis it would seem.

"Something needs to be done."

Flood defences have been installed along the River Wye in Hereford and pumps are being installed in Worcester

Defences are already up on Beales Corner and Severnside in Bewdley, with Hylton Road in Worcester also closing to allow flood pumps to be installed.

The Met Office said fast flowing or deep flood water was likely, causing a danger to life, and drivers are advised to avoid going through standing water.

On the railways, there was no West Midlands Railway service between Birmingham New Street and Worcester or Hereford, external, and due to the forecast weather conditions, bosses added they were unable to operate buses to replace affected services.

There were reduced services on the Cross City Line from Lichfield Trent Valley and Birmingham New Street to Redditch and Bromsgrove, with two trains per hour operating on this route throughout the day.

West Midlands Railway also said a tree brought down in Storm Claudia had struck by a train at Blakedown in Worcestershire, damaging the train and blocking the line.

That has now been cleared, but the rail operator asked for patience over the running of services.

In Herefordshire, Ross-on-Wye parkrun, which had been due to take place on Saturday has been cancelled.

On Facebook, organisers said: "We are reluctantly having to cancel again this week, as both the A course and the B course are just not OK."

Herefordshire Council has also said it has liaised with the Met Office and Environment Agency and was sending extra staff across the county for the whole of the weekend to deal with issues on the roads.

People were reminded not to drive past road closed signs and advised that driving through flood water could also impact surrounding properties.

And volunteers at Herefordshire's 4x4 response team said they would be on standby for the next 48 hours.

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