Flood Alerts in Place for River Soar as Search for Missing Toddler Enters Fourth Day

The River Soar, where police are continuing to search for a missing two-year-old boy, is among those under flood alerts today as rain pours down across Leicestershire.

The Environment Agency issued the alert this morning (February 21), warning that river levels are set to remain high until the weekend.

Heavy rain is forecast for this morning and more is expected on Thursday.

In its alert, the environmental agency said: “River levels remain high but are beginning to fall at the Pillings Lock river gauge. Consequently, the risk of flooding remains.

“Areas most at risk are low-lying agricultural land and roads including Slash Lane at Sileby and the Mountsorrel to Sileby road and Sileby Mill road, and farmlands at Cossington, Sileby, Barrow, Quorndon and Cotes.

“Further rainfall is forecast over the next 48 hours. We expect river levels to remain high until the weekend. We are closely monitoring the situation. Our incident response staff are patrolling watercourses in the area.

“Please avoid using low-lying footpaths near local watercourses and plan driving routes to avoid low-lying roads near rivers, which may be flooded.”

Police and search teams are continuing their search for the two-year-old boy who fell into the river on Sunday (February 18). It is now into its fourth day.

Numerous resources have been deployed to the operation over the last couple of days including specialist diving teams from Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.

The public are urged to keep away from the scene due to the current search and the risk of the high, fast-flowing water.