Berkshire floods: Soldiers bolster substation defences

Army reservists have been drafted in to help hold back flood waters threatening a electricity substation near Reading.

About 50 soldiers from the 7th Battalion The Rifles joined firefighters to build a dam with hundreds of sandbags at Pingewood, Burghfield.

The substation supplies power for about 40,000 homes and businesses.

It comes as a number of severe flood warnings were issued along the Thames between Old Windsor and Datchet.

The substation was also threatened in December 2012 when fire crews pumped out water from the site before levels eventually fell.

An Army spokesman said: "The soldiers have blocked the breach and are waiting for another load of sandbags to arrive to reinforce what they've built."

Elsewhere in the county, Sunday's Wokingham half marathon was cancelled because of flooding.

Organisers took the decision with water on some parts of the course 8in (20cm) deep.

A number of flood alerts and warnings are still in place across Berkshire.

The French Horn restaurant in Sonning can be seen before and after the flood waters arrived

Parts of Caversham were also flooded by rising waters

Some people still managed to find a way through on Brigham Road in Reading