Dad saves toddler from UK floods

(AAP) A man saved his three-year-old daughter after she was dragged 70 metres through a stormwater drain during severe weather that has claimed eight lives in Britain.

Leona Baxter was paddling in floodwater as she and her family walked their dog in
Chester-le-Street, County Durham, on Sunday when she was sucked into a culvert,
through a tunnel and into the nearby River Wear.
Her father, Mark, said the toddler disappeared while splashing around in a puddle.
"I noticed there was a swirling whirlpool effect in the middle of the puddle," the
34-year-old Royal Air Force sergeant said.
"I stuck my arm down the hole and couldn't feel anything.
"I thought it was a storm drain and if it is going to spit out it will be in the
river."
Baxter then spotted his daughter floating face down in the river.
"I jumped in and grabbed her," he said.
"The water got up to about my shoulder level and I put her across my shoulders."
Leona did not appear to be breathing but began coughing up water as her father
patted her back.
The little girl told her parents she had tried to stay on top of the torrent by
doing a star float she had learned at swimming lessons but couldn't manage it as she
was squashed in the narrow drain.
The family's pet dog, Brophy, was also swept into the drain and was still missing on
Monday night.
England's northeast has been the most seriously affected by bad weather in recent
days but flash floods have also hit parts of Yorkshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire
and Worcestershire.
Weather officials warned of more severe weather on Tuesday in northwest England,
West Wales, southwest Scotland and the whole of Northern Ireland.
Five people died in storms on Friday.
There were three more deaths over the weekend.