Drought over
Less than a month after declaring an official drought, the Environment Agency now says it's over. No sooner was the drought announced than the rains began to fall - last month was the wettest April since records began. The forty days of rainfall has restored many rivers and reservoirs, easing the pressure on the environment.
The Environment Agency will continue to keep drought status under continuous review. It stresses that low groundwater levels remain a concern across England, with many still around 1976 levels and unlikely to return to normal levels before winter.
There have been two successive dry winters in the South West and 16 of the last 25 months have had below average rainfall. The cumulative rainfall total from October 2010 to March 2012 was the lowest for the same period since 1921/22 and is the second driest on record.