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LONDON. — Torrential rain and gale force winds battered northern Britain yesterday, cutting power to thousands of homes and forcing some to evacuate flooded streets in the third major storm in a month.

The Environment Agency said Britain had faced an extraordinary period of severe weather and flooding in December, with consultants PwC warning that the latest deluge from Storm Frank could take total losses above 3 billion pounds ($4.5 billion). Further heavy rain was predicted to fall throughout Wednesday as the latest storm swept across northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, sparking warnings of more significant flooding.

A Chinook helicopter was being used to deposit sandbags. — Reuters.