A teenage boy has become the 10th person to die in a water-related incident as temperatures remain high following a night of thunderstorms for some.
Kent Fire and Rescue Service said it was called to reports of concern for a person in water near Galley Hill Road in Swanscombe, Dartford, just before 3pm on Wednesday. The teenager’s body was recovered at the scene and his death is not being treated as suspicious, it added.
It comes after a number of similar deaths resulting from open water swimming during a record-breaking heatwave, which saw temperatures climb to 35.1C in Kew Gardens, west London, on Tuesday.
Weather Outlook
The hot weather is expected to continue over the coming days, before easing over the weekend, according to the Met Office. Thursday will feel “very warm” for many, particularly in the South East, where areas such as London are expected to see highs of 31C, the forecaster said.
It follows a night of heavy downpours and frequent lighting strikes, mainly seen across the Midlands and in the north of England. Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey said the thunderstorms came as “very warm and unstable conditions” developed, adding: “These brought localised heavy downpours and frequent lightning. As is typical with thunderstorms, impacts varied over short distances, with some areas seeing intense rainfall while others nearby remained largely dry.”
Since Tuesday, more than 85,000 lightning strikes have been recorded across the UK, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, according to the Met Office. Coleshill, Warwickshire, saw as much as 25.4mm of rainfall between 9pm on Wednesday and 3am on Thursday, while Solihull, in the West Midlands, recorded 15.6mm over the same period.
Ms Maxey said: “Looking ahead, the recent very hot conditions are expected to ease through the rest of the week, with a shift towards more changeable weather and a reduced risk of widespread thunderstorms. A band of rain is forecast to move eastwards across the UK over the weekend, bringing fresher conditions along with a mix of showers and brighter spells. Temperatures will return closer to seasonal average values, feeling less hot for many.”
Series of Tragedies
In recent days, a number of deaths resulting from water-related incidents have been reported in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Cornwall, Hampshire, Warwickshire, Cheshire, Pembrokeshire, Lincolnshire and Lancashire.
- Declan Sawyer, 15, died after getting into trouble at Swanholme Lakes, Lincoln, on Sunday.
- Also on Sunday, a 72-year-old woman died after being pulled from the water at West Angle Bay beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, at around 3.15pm.
- A 13-year-old boy, understood to be Reco Puttock, died after getting into difficulty at Leadbeater Dam, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, on Monday, while the body of a teenage girl was recovered from the water at Kingsbury Water Park, Warwickshire.
- On the same day, a man in his 60s died of cardiac arrest after entering the sea at Tregirls Beach, Padstow, to help two family members who were in difficulty, Devon and Cornwall Police said.
- The body of a teenager was recovered from the water at Rother Valley Country Park, Rotherham, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, South Yorkshire Police said.
- Another body has been found in the search for a teenage boy who went missing after he was last seen swimming at Hawley Lake on the Hampshire/Surrey border on Tuesday afternoon.
- A 12-year-old boy who died after getting into trouble in the River Ribble at Ribchester, Lancashire, on Tuesday was named as Junior Slater from Clayton-le-Woods.
- On Wednesday, Cheshire Police said the body of a 17-year-old boy was found after he went missing in Pickmere Lake at Marston, Northwich.
